Ghosts of Georgetown
by forensicsfan
Summary: The discovery of several sets of bones underneath a home in Georgetown becomes a catalyst for Booth and Brennan to question more than just the evidence.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them, I didn't create the, and I certainly don't profit from them, but I can dream can't I?

**Author's Note:** This is a work in progress and like many writers, I need to let the characters direct me where they want it to go (some call it a muse, mojo, or maybe just those little voices in your head), in any case, I'll try and update frequently, but I make no promises except to try and stay true to the characters and perhaps push them a little further than the writers of the show might.

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It was part way into the thirty-fourth straight hour that Brennan finally decided that she needed to take a break and give in to what her body had been craving for more hours than she cared to admit. The lab was nearly deserted, most everyone else having already gone home to get some proper sleep or camped out in their own offices until a more decent hour for working arrived. As she sank into the soft leather couch in her office and pulled a throw carelessly around her, any last resistance to sleep seemed to pull right out of her and as she drifted off to sleep her head swirled with the events of the last day and a half. 

Four bodies had been found underneath a house in Georgetown by a plumber who had been called in to make repairs on the structure during a renovation project. All of the bodies were diminutive in their stature; suggesting to Brennan that each of them were no more than 10 years old. How much time had passed since they had first been placed there was something for Hodgins to surmise from the insect and trace evidence around the bodies, but there was something about the whole scenario that had pushed Brennan to continue working. She hated it when the victims were children, and it was clear from where these remains had been found that they indeed were victims; her cursory examination of the bones had confirmed that each one of them had died in a violent manner.

Booth had questioned the homeowner, Mr. Seroth, for several hours and hadn't backed down until he could confirm that the home was a recent acquisition as Seroth had asserted. Now Booth had everyone he could down at the FBI running down every previous owner of the building in an effort to find out who might be responsible. He seemed almost more driven than Brennan and she thought that perhaps it was because he envisioned Parker every time a case involving a child came into play.

It felt like she'd been asleep for only a few minutes, but as she finally stirred, she realized that she'd slept for nearly six hours and the lab had come to life again in the interim with people picking right back up where they'd left off only hours before. She sat up and yawned, stretching her arms above her head as she tried to work out a few of the kinks in her neck that had developed while sleeping curled up in a ball on her couch. She considered briefly going home to take a shower and change her clothes, but there was still so much to do to finish the examination of the four sets of remains that she really didn't want to take the time. She had worked numerous days in the same clothes when she'd worked in Rwanda and Guatemala, a few more hours in these clothes certainly wouldn't kill her.

She plucked her lab coat off of the back of the couch where it had haphazardly ended up in her quest for sleep. She slipped it on and made her way out into the lab, heading for the platform where she'd left the remains she'd been examining. From her preliminary examination it seemed that this victim was a small boy probably five or six years in age; this one in particular had caused Brennan to continue working longer than she would have otherwise. There was something about his structure that reminded her of Booth's son Parker and she knew that who ever this little boy's parents were that they probably missed him.

As she stepped onto the platform, her assistant Zach Addy glanced over at her, "Good morning, Dr. Brennan." He hadn't had much sleep himself, having crashed on a couch in a communal area of the Jeffersonian. He felt compelled to try and be as driven as his mentor, but he was finding that she set the bar rather high and it was difficult to keep up with her.

"Morning, Zach," Brennan didn't really look his direction, her eyes were on the skeletal remains sitting on the exam table, "I want you to clean these bones; make sure you go particularly slow, I don't want any potential evidence damaged." She let out a yawn; apparently that trip home to get a shower would have been a good idea.

"Bren, did you stay here all night?" The concerned voice of Angela Montenegro filtered through as she walked up onto the platform. She had her head tilted slightly and an single eyebrow raised with her hip jutted out in a posture that indicated that she might just launch into a lecture about how taking care of the living was more important than staying up all night in favor of working on the dead.

"Yes, Angela." Brennan really wasn't in the mood for small talk right at this moment, she half expected Booth to come sweeping into the lab wanting an update on the identities of the victims, including names, addresses, and what their potential voting record might have been had they had the opportunity to grow up in the first place.

Angela crossed her arms over her chest and began to tap her toe, "Sweetie, you look like a mess." She took in the rumpled appearance of her best friend; yesterday's clothes, mussed up hair, make-up that needed more attention than a touch up could provide, and breath that could knock over a sexy hunk of an FBI Special Agent who would probably be here any moment. Didn't Brennan realize that bad breath could be the kiss of death?

"I'm not particularly concerned with how I look right now; I woke up only a few minutes ago," As if to emphasize her point, she let out a yawn. She glanced at Angela and smirked as she realized that her best friend looked well rested and extremely satisfied; she'd been with Hodgins all night no doubt.

"Well you _should_ be concerned, what if Booth shows up?" Angela had made it her personal mission to make sure that Brennan and Booth realized how much in love they were with each other; no matter how much either of them denied it or changed the subject; she could read people and she knew that Booth was perfect for her best friend, well just perfect really.

"Angela, Booth doesn't care what I look like." Brennan really didn't want to take the time to get into this with Angela right now. There was so much work to do still on this particular case that she didn't have it in her to take personal advice.

"I think he is, sweetie," Angela had a knowing smile; she'd seen the way Seeley Booth had watched Brennan when he thought no one was looking; the man definitely noticed how she looked whether she wanted to admit it or not.

"I would have to agree with Angela, Dr. Brennan." Zach chimed in; he didn't understand why Agent Booth's perception of Dr. Brennan's appearance mattered per se, but he had definitely noticed that when she looked particularly attractive the FBI agent seemed drawn to her the way protons and neutrons were drawn together to create an atom. "Booth does seem to notice your appearance."

"I'm sure no more than he notices yours, Zach." Brennan wanted to focus on the work, not on what she did or did not look like in the mind of Booth; that topic had wasted more of her own brain power than she'd ever admit to anyone and besides, Booth had seen her look worse than this on numerous occasions.

"Sweetie, Booth _definitely_ doesn't look at Zach the way he looks at you." Angela had a conspiratorial smile on her face as she considered how she could blackmail Booth if she could take a picture at an opportune moment to prove her point.

"Angela's right again. Booth seems very appreciative of your structure," Zach seemed pleased with himself that he'd noticed; of course it was difficult to miss; as an anthropologist, well an almost anthropologist anyway, he could definitely appreciate Dr. Brennan's well formed structure, and as a man, well, he tried not to let it distract him.

Brennan shot both Zach and Angela a look that might freeze the blood of most people, "Right now we need to concern ourselves with the structure of our victim here." She really was far more tired than she'd thought and somehow it had affected her mood as well because she hadn't intended to snap.

As if on cue, Booth strode into the lab purposefully, hardly pausing as he swiped his card on his way up the platform as he noticed Bones, his brow was furrowed as he took in her appearance with a worried glance, "Did you sleep at all, Bones? 'Cause you look like hell."

_**To be continued...**_


	2. Chapter 2

"Booth, I told you I slept," Brennan didn't really understand why everyone seemed so intent on challenging that fact this morning and she was starting to become annoyed. They were sitting in her office going over where things were in the investigation so far because the powers that be over at the Bureau were itching to have something concrete to tell the press.

"Ok-ay," Booth could tell that Bones was a little cranky; if she really had slept then he reasoned that she hadn't had enough and he really should have stopped and picked up some coffee on the way over, "What time did you go to sleep?" There was a slightly playful edge to his questioning in an effort to make her feel like he wasn't interrogating her; which in reality he was, at least subtly.

"I don't know, two or two-thirty maybe three," Brennan hadn't really paid much attention to the clock when she'd drifted off the sleep and her estimate was based solely on the last time she'd actually noticed what time it was before she'd settled for her couch. "I was working on the remains and I wasn't really paying attention."

One of Booth's eyebrows shot up, "That would explain why you're cranky this morning." He was about to say something about her needing to take better care of herself, but judging by the expression on her face that would have launched her into a diatribe about his alpha male tendencies and how she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself without any interference from him. He offered a smile in hopes that he might short circuit any verbal barrage headed his direction; it seemed to work as a soft smile stole over Bones' face.

"I didn't realize that I was coming across that way," Brennan wasn't always in touch with how her behavior affected other people, but she'd begun to learn to tune into what Booth was telling her because it seemed to have an effect on the people they interviewed and on the overall scope of the cases they worked together. She might be a brain person first and foremost, but she was definitely learning from him that putting a little heart into things was good too.

"And you haven't eaten anything either, have you?" Booth had experience a pre-food Bones once in a while in the early morning hours, and he'd learned that she was much more pleasant after a little food and coffee; even if she wouldn't admit it to herself.

Bones shifted uncomfortably in her chair as she pursed her lips together; she carefully studied Booth for a moment, not quite comfortable with where this line of questioning was going, "I didn't have time to go home; and I don't normally eat breakfast anyway."

"Why don't you let me take you home, Bones? You can get a quick shower, maybe a little attitude adjustment and I'll pick you up something for breakfast before we go meet with Cullen," He hoped she'd just take this all in stride; he'd forgotten to mention that the reason he'd come by was because Cullen wanted a face to face update first thing this morning.

"What? We have to go meet with Cullen? You didn't say anything about this yesterday." Bones hadn't recalled hearing about a meeting; normally Booth let her know about such meetings in advance. The comment about her attitude didn't quite register in the middle of the realization that despite nearly thirty-five straight hours of work, she didn't have any more concrete information than when the investigation had started to present to Booth's superior.

Booth let out an amused chuckle, "That's because I didn't know about it yesterday; he called me at six this morning, said he wanted us in his office by ten." Did she have any idea just how sexy she looked when she was flustered? Of course she didn't and he wasn't about to tell her either and if he didn't want her wondering what he was really thinking he'd better glance away. He cleared his throat and sat up a little straighter.

"Oh," Brennan glanced away from Booth and down at the desk; her brain seemed to still be a little addled by lack of sleep and she wondered if maybe Booth was right; a shower and a little food did sound good. She glanced up again, "You don't have to pick up breakfast though, Booth." There was a time when she would have found him being so nice suspect, but she'd become more accustomed to it and his suggestion _was_ completely rational.

"C'mon, Bones, you have to eat and I'm pretty sure that you haven't had time to go to the grocery store this week," He was completely sure of it actually considering how much time she'd been spending at the lab; any food that might be in her refrigerator would be suspect at this point and he for one wasn't willing to risk _E. coli_ or some other food borne illness just to check.

"Ok, fine, but for the record, I order my groceries over the internet; the delivery is very convenient." Brennan yawned and pulled herself out of her chair to move towards the door, "But I'm not sure what there is to tell Cullen; I wasn't able to ascertain the precise cause of death on _any_ of the victims so far." She sounded frustrated and disappointed; despite hours of work she was going to have to wait until Zach had cleaned each set of remains so that she could inspect them closer.

"You will, Bones," Booth's smile widened as he followed her towards the doorway, "I'm doing my part, you're doing your part and it's only a matter of time before we catch the bad guys." His chest puffed out just a hair at how proud he was to be a crime fighting Special Agent with a sexy squint right next to him.

"Why do you assume that the killer is male?" Bones didn't like conjecture; in her world it tended to skew your interpretation of the evidence. However, it appeared that in Booth's world it was commonplace and sometimes even helpful.

"Statistically, there are more men than women that are serial killers," Booth glanced over at her as they fell in step next to one another as they headed towards the exit of the lab. "And when we're dealing with children, it's got to be one hell of a sick bastard." Parker came to his mind and he clenched his jaw in determination; he was going to do whatever it took to find the sicko that had killed four children and just dumped their bodies like forgotten trash underneath a house.

"Well what about that woman in Texas; she killed five of her own children...and wasn't there another woman that drowned her two children and then lied that they'd been abducted? It seems to me that a woman is just as capable as a man of becoming violent and killing children." Brennan had seen enough evidence of that in her life.

"Ok, good point, but still, I'm putting my money on it being a man." Booth truly hadn't considered the possibility that they might be dealing with a woman who had gone over the edge and killed her own children; he had immediately assumed that it made sense that these children had been abducted and murdered.

"Is it really a good idea to gamble on the outcome of a murder investigations?" Brennan looked at him curiously; was this commonplace among FBI agents and wouldn't that cloud their objectivity in investigating the case?

"It's an expression, Bones, I'm not actually betting money...I'm just saying that most of the time it's a man." He let out an amused chuckle and made a mental note to try and find a way to get her out a little bit more to experience more than just the confines of the Jeffersonian, especially since she'd admitted that she ordered her groceries over the internet.


	3. Chapter 3

Leaning back in his chair, Cullen sat stone-faced as Booth and Dr. Brennan sat across from him and filled him in on the status of the investigation. His brow furrowed a bit deeper and he leaned forward with a clear indication that he'd heard enough for now, "So in other words, we're nowhere closer to identifying these four children than we were when we started at the crime scene." He breathed out a frustrated sigh and arched his brows, "We need something soon; the Deputy Director is breathing down my neck and Tom Brokaw and every other network news anchor is breathing down his to get a story."

"We're working as quickly as we can, sir," Booth resisted the urge to express his opinion that to identify four victims in such a short timeframe was pretty much asking for a miracle.

Apparently, Brennan had no such resistance. "I don't think you're being realistic about how long this could take," She thought that the FBI's request was tantamount to rushing to judgment; something that defied logic and reason considering they were supposed to be the top law enforcement agency in the country. She was still feeling a bit out of sorts even after a quick shower and a change of clothes; she had eaten some sort of breakfast sandwich on the drive over that Booth had picked up for her; the coffee that she'd insisted on stopping to get had further helped to defuse the funk that she'd sank into after working nearly thirty-five hours straight.

Cullen eyed Brennan with a hint of skepticism; no matter how much Booth had faith in her, in his mind she was a squint who he didn't particularly understand despite the fact that her efforts and the efforts of her colleagues at the Jeffersonian had assisted them on numerous cases that otherwise would have been dead ends. The bottom line was that she wasn't a law enforcement professional and he viewed her being out in the field with one of his best agents as a potential liability, "Well, Dr. Brennan, what would _you_ say is a more _realistic_ timeframe then?" His patience seemed to be wearing thin.

"I don't know. I'm a scientist, I don't really make guesses," She could almost hear the look Booth was sending her direction and in her mind the words of his silent plea were scrolling across the inside of her forehead like a Broadway marquee _'Hurry up, Bones, he just wants to know that it's going to happen as soon as possible.'_ She furrowed her brow and continued, "But we are working as quickly as we can and we'll give you any definitive information just as soon as it's available."

Cullen glanced over at Booth with a mixture of appreciation and amusement before directing his attention to Brennan, "Thank you; we certainly don't want to give out information that isn't accurate." It was odd really that she seemed to have picked up a little bit of Booth rather than rambling on in scientific babble and giving him far more squinty-speak than he wanted. "You seem to be rubbing off on the good doctor, Booth. Keep up the good work."

Booth was impressed; it seemed that in the very moment he was trying to have an FBI mind meld with Bones, she said exactly what she needed to; it was almost as if she was reading his mind or channeling him; if he believed in that sort of thing that is, "As soon as we have an idea how long the bodies have been there we'll have a better idea how to narrow our missing persons search." In the back of his mind, he sounded oddly like Bones.

Cullen gave a perfunctory nod, effectively dismissing them.

On the way out to the parking lot, Brennan glanced over at Booth with a pensive expression, "I don't understand why he asks for more information when it's clear that we would give it to him as soon as we had it."

"Bones, he's just doing his job; he asks us for an update because the Deputy Director wants an update." Booth smirked as he regarded his partner and casually slung his arm over her shoulder as they walked. If she could only see that it was really all about politics perhaps she'd have a little more patience with the whole thing.

They neared Booth's vehicle and Brennan stepped away from him slightly and turned to face him, "Well if they don't let me work they aren't going to _have_ any new information." She felt slightly exasperated and it wasn't just the fatigue she was feeling either. This case felt different and she wasn't used to not being able to distance herself at least a little bit from the victims so that she could remain objective and focus on the evidence.

Booth regarded her with a measure of concern, "Bones, are you doing ok?" His hand came to rest on her shoulder. He could tell that she wasn't quite herself but he wasn't sure why.

She was taken aback at his question; the fact that he could read people, could read her made her uncomfortable. She liked to keep people at a distance, but somehow Booth was always right there whether she wanted him to be or not; although she had to admit that more often than not lately she wanted him there, not that he had to know that. Her words came out a bit halted, "I'm fine." There was no reason for Booth to worry and come up with a reason to go alpha male on her; he did that often enough without a reason.

Booth wasn't buying it; there was something off and he wanted to know what it was; his expression softened. "Look, Bones, I know these cases can be really tough, but you're going to wear yourself out if you keep working like you did last night." He felt a fierce protectiveness for her whether it was keeping her out of the line of fire or keeping her from herself when necessary.

"Someone is missing those children, Booth," She looked haggard as she spoke with an impassioned tone, "How would you feel if it was Parker?" Brennan knew that she'd hit a nerve by the way his jaw twitched; she didn't really care to rest until they had some answers; answers for herself, she certainly wasn't wearing herself out simply because the FBI wanted the information.

Booth's answer was almost a whisper, "I'd want to know," He didn't want to even imagine the possibility of something like this happening to Parker, but he knew from the size of the skeletal remains that at least one of them couldn't be any bigger than his son and that thought caused his stomach to lurch a bit.

Brennan found herself just looking at Booth and she felt a swell of emotion that seemed to come out of nowhere as she found him just looking back at her with intensity. The realization suddenly hit her that she was working this case as if the boy she'd examined until the wee hours of the morning was Booth's son; there was nothing logical or rational about it and she found it unsettling.

Booth cleared his throat and pulled his hand back from her shoulder and averted his glance; he felt something akin to electricity surging between he and Bones, but the parking garage of the FBI headquarters was not the place he wanted to explore that, "Uh, we should get you back to the Jeffersonian."

The moment was broken and Bones was both relieved and strangely disappointed as she and Booth climbed into the SUV, "Yeah, we have a lot of work to do still and I want to see if Zach has finished cleaning the bones yet; it might yield a few more clues to the method the killer used and I'm sure once I place the tissue markers Angela will be able to put a face on our victims." She felt like she was rambling, but it was easier to lose herself in what she knew than to consider that there was something she was feeling for Booth that went beyond their partnership; perhaps something she couldn't really ignore.


	4. Chapter 4

Brennan let out a tired yawn as she stood back and looked at the tissue markers she'd placed on the skull of the smallest of the four sets of remains, the same set of remains that she'd stayed up into the wee hours of the morning examining. Angela would be able to do something with this one now in the Angelator and at least for the time being, there wasn't much more that Brennan could do until the other squints had done what they were best at. The couch in her office seemed to be calling out once again and she was more than willing to head that call. The meeting with Cullen earlier had put her further out of sorts than she had been before and she was almost glad when Booth had left shortly after he'd brought her back to the Jeffersonian. He needed to run down a few more leads based on the previous ownership chain of the house the remains had been found under and she had really needed to do what she did best by identifying the bones.

"Bren, you ok?" Angela knew that she must be close to turning at least one of the skulls over to her to input tissue depths, and she also thought that her friend was working a little too hard.

Brennan didn't really answer her question, "I've finished with the tissue markers on this skull, Zach is working on cleaning the others and as soon as he's done one of us will put the tissue markers on those as well; make sure I review them before you input the data if he's the one that places them." She let out a yawn and finally noticed Angela's concerned expression. Her brows arched upwards just slightly, "What?"

"Bren, sweetie, you need to take a break, and I don't mean a sleeping on the couch in your office break until your FBI partner hotty with the naughty body whisks you away for another meeting down at FBI headquarters. You should be at home sleeping in a normal bed like a normal person." Angela was really one of the few people that could be that blunt and not have it come off sounding like an insult.

Brennan let out a tired sigh and smirked at her friend, "Ang, there is still plenty of work to do and I'm sure that Zach is close to having another one of the skulls ready to place the tissue markers on." It wasn't that she disagreed with Angela, she just like to be the one to come to her own conclusions; she didn't like having someone tell her what her conclusions should be.

"You said yourself that he was capable of placing the markers himself...you just need to review them." Angela looked a bit smug; she wasn't necessarily looking to win a battle her or be right, but she was concerned that Brennan wasn't getting enough rest or enough of a life for that matter and she was using the one thing that Brennan really couldn't argue with – logic.

"Well, I suppose that's true, but his time would probably be better used cleaning the remaining skulls while I place the tissue markers," Brennan let out a sigh and her fatigue was evident in her expression, "The FBI wants an ID on these four remains as quickly as possible...apparently some agent named Tom Brokaw is anxious for the results." It didn't really make any sense to her what this agent needed the information for; Booth was the agent in charge of the investigation and she had no recollection of ever meeting this Agent Brokaw before.

Angela stifled a full fledged laugh and let out a giggle instead before she put on a more serious face and continued, "Tom Brokaw is a network news anchor, and he probably wants the information for a story; it's been all over the news."

"Oh, that makes more sense." Brennan faintly recalled the words 'television new anchor' in Cullen's office, but she had been a little preoccupied trying to think through what little evidence they had been able to discern so far from the skeletal remains.

Angela's arms were crossed in front of her chest and an amused smile played at her lips, "Sweetie, you need to get some real sleep; you don't seem to be quite yourself." She was briefly tempted to say something along the lines that Booth looked a little tired himself and why didn't they both just admit that they wanted each other and kill two birds with one stone? Somehow at the moment she thought that little pearl of wisdom might just go in one ear and right out the other.

"I was planning to get a little sleep on the sofa in my office until Zach was ready with the next skull." It was perfectly logical use of time given the timeline that the FBI wanted to impose upon the investigation. Once she was able to give Angela all four skulls, then she'd have the time to go home and have a good night's sleep; if she could sleep that is. She could envision the face of the smallest of the victims and it angered her that someone was capable of hurting a child and then tossing them underneath perhaps the very house they lived in hoping that they would simply just be forgotten.

Angela was about to launch into another monologue about what part of the last few minutes of conversation did she just miss when Hodgins swiped his access card and hurried up the stairs to the platform with an expression on his face that nearly matched the one he'd had when Angela had first agreed to date him. Only this time he had something in his hand that clearly indicated that this little bit of excitement was work related; well a girl could hope anyway and after work, well, she'd make sure he was sufficiently excited about her if she had anything to say about it.

Hodgins sounded a little bit out of breath, "Dr. Brennan, I've been working on a piece of cellulose that we found in the pocket of the Toughskins one of our victims were wearing," He glanced over at Angela and arched his brows a bit suggestively before turning his attention back to Brennan. "The thing is I've figured out what it is." Hodgins looked victorious.

Angela raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Are you going to share with us, or did you want to play 20 questions?" She could tell by the look on his face that a string of techno babble had been about to come out of his mouth, but he was filtering it through his mind to get to the point.

"As much as I'd love to play 20 questions with you later," He looked at her with a flirtatious glint in his eyes before he got back to business, "I think what I found is going to help us considerably."

"What is it?" Brennan usually didn't mind the banter between the couple, but today her patience was starting to fade as the fatigue ached to take over.

"A movie ticket stub for 'One Little Indian'," Hodgins looked giddy.

"Never heard of it," Angela wrinkled her nose, "What is it, some western?"

"I've heard of it," Brennan seemed to be thinking back to a happier time, "I saw it on the Wonderful World of Disney a long time ago, I think it was Jodie Foster's second film appearance." She might not be up to date with current movies, but the ones she'd seen with her family were stuck in her mind like still photos.

"Exactly," Hodgins chimed in, "And the date on this movie ticket is June 22, 1973, which means those remains have been there a very long time."

"Thirty-four years, wow," Angela wondered if anyone would even recognize the faces after all these years after she put the composite together in the Angelator.

Brennan seemed suddenly energized now that a very definitive detail, a purposeful expression seeped in and spread across her face as she moved very quickly towards her office, "I need to call Booth."


	5. Chapter 5

"Toughskins huh?" Booth let out an amused chuckle, "I haven't seen a pair of those...well, long enough that I'd be happy never to see another one." He was waxing a bit nostalgic, but then again those did bring back some good memories from his childhood.

"I don't understand." Brennan's brow was furrowed as she regarded him, Hodgins had mentioned tough skins too, but she hadn't thought at the time to ask what he was talking about since the remains had been all skeletal except for a few remnants of clothing.

Booth glanced over at her with a smirk, "Toughskins, Bones, the bane of middle class American kids everywhere," He arched his brows as if to encourage her to remember and when he realized that she'd probably never even seen a pair; she probably really was more of a Garanimals kind of gal anyway, he thought maybe a little more explanation would be helpful. "Sears made these jeans that were pretty much indestructible; moms loved them because they lasted, kids hated them because they were ugly as sin and about the only way you could get a hole in the knee was to have a herd of elk stampede over the top of them and even then there was no guarantee." Surely that might elicit a smile of recognition.

"Well that would explain how they lasted during decomp and through the succeeding years." Brennan was glad she had never experienced the woes of these tough skin jeans; she favored denim that was 100 percent cotton; obviously these were made of a blend that couldn't be comfortable.

Booth shook his head in amusement; he could always count on Bones to focus on the rational and logical aspect of things; there were times he wished that he could make her let go of that a little. Hell, who was he kidding? Sometimes he just wanted her to let go, let her hair down, have a good time. He'd seen glimpses of it now and then and when he did it did something to him and he might be willing to admit that he'd do just about anything to see that side of her more often; under certain conditions of blackmail and torture of course.

"You said that you were pulling missing children's cases from around the time that was stamped on the movie ticket." Brennan wanted to confirm what they'd briefly discussed on the phone before he'd swung by the Jeffersonian to pick her up so they could review the case files together.

"Yeah, Agent Garcia was pulling cold case files from June through the end of 1973, just in case that movie ticket was in his pocket for a while." Booth knew from firsthand experience that there was no end to what you might find in a young boy's pants pocket or how long it might have been there. He only hoped that there weren't too many files to go through and that for the sake of expediency that the four cases were related; that alone could provide them with a homerun of identification.

"Good," Brennan hoped that while she was gone that Angela would be able to generate a three dimensional rendering of what the youngest victim looked like; Zach had finished cleaning a second skull and he was placing tissue markers on it for her to examine when she got back.

The drive over to the FBI headquarters wasn't very long; in fact on some days it would be a faster walk from the Jeffersonian than fighting rush hour and tourist traffic, but given the nature of investigations it was always better to drive. As Booth and Brennan walked into his office, Agent Garcia seemed to be right on their heels and given the expression on his face, he clearly thought he had something in the files in his hand.

"Seeley," Garcia called out as he approached the office, "I think this is worth a really close look." He handed over the file and let Booth glance over the summary of the case before he interjected anything of his own.

Brennan glanced at the other agent, he was definitely nice looking; strong masculine features, beautiful Latino skin that clearly added a certain definition to his musculature, and his smile, well that smile of his was a bit disarming, especially with those intense brown eyes. Yes, he was definitely nice to look at, but he didn't posses that cocky confidence that Booth did; somehow that disappointed her.

"Nice work, Garcia." Booth had a smile on his face that could have lit up Christmas and he turned his attention to Bones signaling to Garcia that he was done. As the door closed behind Garcia, Booth offered Bones a glance at the file, "Four boys went missing in late June of 1973, went to the movies and never made it home." His brows arched expectantly as he watched her read between the lines.

Brennan caught his glance and she couldn't help but smile, this certainly seemed to be likely, and given the first photo that had been placed in the file of one of the missing boys, she seemed to think that they just might have gotten one hell of a lucky break. "It seems to fit the evidence, but we still need to do a thorough comparison of the findings at the Jeffersonian with what's in this file before we assume we have a match here Booth."

"Ok, ok, ok." He knew they had a match and he knew that she knew that deep down, but she was right, they needed to follow protocol and make sure things fit perfectly before they went looking to notify the next of kin; after all these years they needed to be right because if they were wrong that would just open up old wounds for someone that didn't need to be disturbed until they got their own closure.

"But it does seem to fit, it certainly would make our jobs a lot easier if it fit," Brennan felt a genuine smile spreading across her face as she continued to look at Booth; it was times like this that she felt little jolts of electricity running between herself and her partner and she wondered if it had to do with the excitement of the case or if there was something more going on that she wasn't sure she wanted to acknowledge. If she was honest with herself, she knew it had far more to do with Booth rather than any case they happened to be working on, but despite Angela's constant encouragement to take full advantage of her partner, she wasn't sure it was a line she was willing to cross.

"Yeah, _that's_ what I'm talking about." Booth felt his smile widen as he seemed to gravitate a little closer to Bones; there was something so incredibly sexy about her when she was excited about a case; ok, there was just something incredibly sexy about her period, but as much as he was tempted, he just couldn't really let himself go there.

"We should go back to the Jeffersonian so we can compare the composites from the Angelator," The gears spinning and whirring in Brennan's mind were almost audible as she began to think through what they still needed to do, but now with this case file it seemed that they might just have enough answers to identify their victims.

"And I'm _sure_ that they'll be a match," Booth was grinning now as he reached over and slid his hand across her shoulder to turn her around and propel her towards the doorway; his hand coming to rest at the small of her back as they walked.

"We still have to make sure, Booth," As confident as he was, Brennan didn't find it very logical at all; clearly there were similarities between the evidence they had found and this missing children cold case, but her empiricism made her wait until all of the evidence was in before jumping to a conclusion; many times in her experience she'd seen what could happen as a scientist if you excluded all other options instead of approaching each one rationally; examining thoroughly before allowing the evidence to lead them to a conclusion.

"I wish they were all this easy," Booth commented under his breath as they found their way to his SUV.

Brennan held a certain amount of hope that it _would_ be this easy to know who these victims were and bring closure to their families, but she had to temper herself to not get too caught up in Booth's excitement until she saw the composites side by side with the photos from the file herself, "We don't know that it is."

"C'mon, Bones, have a little faith." Booth's brows arched as if his face was shrugging his shoulders.

"I think that's your department." Bones replied matter of factly with a hint of a smile on her face.

Booth let out an easy laugh and Brennan couldn't help but join him. Neither one of them could have known that if they thought this case was going to be easy then they were going to be sadly mistaken. This case was going to be far from easy.


	6. Chapter 6

"This is dead on," Angela looked at the three dimensional image of the face rotating in the Angelator; it looked almost identical to the smiling school photo of six-year old Andy Cooper, missing since 1973 along with his older brother Ryan and neighbors Brian Foster and Randy Harrison. The four boys had headed off to the movies during their first full week of summer vacation and that was the last that anyone had seen or heard of them until now.

"Why these four though?" There was something about the whole thing that didn't set well with Booth; now that they had confirmed the identity of one victim and it was almost just a formality to confirm the other three, his job was really beginning. The information in the case file didn't really provide much in the way of details. A missing persons case had been filed approximately 48 hours after they'd last been seen; the parents had just assumed that the boys were at one of the other boys homes until the mother of six-year old Andy and ten-year old Ryan had started calling around to find out where they were and found that none of the other parents knew.

"Why _any_ of them?" Brennan could usually detach herself somewhat from the victims, but seeing this boy's face felt too personal; whoever did this was a monster on the level with those who committed genocide and she hoped that she and Booth would be able to find enough evidence to lead them to the killer.

"I don't know, Bones, I don't know," Booth's brow was deeply furrowed as he glanced down at the case file, "I wonder if we should be looking for links to other missing children's cases." He hoped that this was an isolated incident, but the reality was if someone could kill four young boys in cold blood and dump their bodies without an afterthought then they were probably capable of just about anything.

Brennan's brow mirrored Booth's, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves," If she had to think about the possibility of more victims in this case without getting some closure on this one first she was going to have a difficult time getting sleep, "We still haven't definitively determined the cause of death…nor have we identified the other three." She knew deep down that they already knew who the other three were, but as a scientist, she had to go one step at a time.

"I thought you said it was obvious that it was homicidal violence," Booth looked at her quizzically.

"Yes, it is, however, there are a number of things that could have caused the injuries; once we finish with the tissue markers Zach and I will go over the remains more closely to see if there are any discernable tool marks." Brennan let out a sigh, she felt a sudden deep empathy with the parents of these children; she could imagine how they must have felt expecting their boys to walk through the door at any moment and never really knowing where they were or what had happened to them.

"Sweetie, are you ok?" Angela could tell that this case was putting a strain on Brennan that she had seldom seen and her concern was evident as she furrowed her brow and glanced over at Booth as if to say 'hey big strong sexy FBI man, do something here, if ever there was a time to get all alpha male, now is it'.

"I think I just want to review the case file again," There was something about it that she couldn't shake and for some reason she felt like she was missing something obvious. Without really saying anything else to Booth of Angela she headed towards her office where the files were laid out on her desk.

Angela and Booth were left there looking at each other oddly; Angela crossed her arms over her chest and stared Booth down, "Something is up with her and she's not telling me anything." She wondered if Booth knew something or if perhaps he was the reason for her friend's funk; a girl could hope couldn't she? In any case, she was worried and she reasoned that since Brennan wasn't taking her advice that maybe she might listen to Booth.

"Yeah, she seems really bothered by this case; she doesn't usually get bothered," That was a trait that Booth couldn't quite fathom. They'd investigated some of the most vile and disgusting crime scenes and yet Bones always seemed to be the consummate professional when it came to the remains.

"She gets a lot more bothered than you think she does, Seeley," Angela knew that Booth was an investigator, but he was also a man and he could be completely dense sometimes.

Booth's brows knit together and he rested a frustrated hand on his hip, "What do you mean?"

"I think that sometimes Brennan maybe connects a little too deeply with the victims; and this time for whatever reason it's gone a little deeper than usual," Angela leveled a smile at him, "Look, Seeley, for whatever reason, she's not talking to me about this; make her talk to you." She had no doubts that Booth could work his magic with her and get Brennan to open up, even if Mr. FBI himself looked a little doubtful.

Booth nodded somberly, still not really sure what in the hell was going on as he headed towards Bones' office. He paused briefly in the doorway where he could see her settled on her sofa, file in her lap and staring off towards the far wall. He tapped softly on the door before slowly moving over to sit next to her. As he sank into the soft leather and tried to figure out what to say, he noticed that she had a tear slipping down her cheek. His voice was colored with warmth, "You ok, Bones?"

Brennan dispensed with the preamble, "I don't understand it, Booth. What kind of monster kills four little boys who just wanted to see a movie on their summer break? There is no logic, no reason in any of it. I just don't understand." She sniffled; feeling completely out of sorts and completely out of control of her emotions.

Booth slipped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her a little closer, as he tried to offer some measure of comfort, "I don't know, Bones; you're right it doesn't make any sense."

"This is the part of my job I hate; the part where I can't stop the monsters before they hurt someone like little Andy Cooper," Brennan sniffled again and then a sob choked in her throat and she felt herself become enveloped in the warmth of Seeley Booth's arms as he just held onto her as she cried.

"It's ok, Bones, I'm here, its ok." Booth's voice seemed to have a soothing effect on her tears as he felt her relax against him; his fingers instinctively reaching up to stroke her hair. He whispered in her ear as her sniffles tapered off, "We're gonna get the monster, Bones; you and me. We're the good guys and he doesn't stand a chance, especially not with an entire team of super squints standing behind us."

Brennan felt a smile tug at the corners of her mouth at his words; ever the optimistic bad ass FBI super agent alpha male, she had no doubt in her mind that he truly believed what he said.


	7. Chapter 7

"We've confirmed the ID on all four of the victims, sir," Booth was on the phone with Cullen briefing him on the latest development in the case. "Garcia is trying to track down the families so we can contact them and in the meantime Dr. Brennan is trying to determine the cause of death." He glanced over at Bones who seemed to be oddly fascinated with one of the bones that made up the spine; vertebrae if he remembered correctly. "Yes, sir, as soon as we get anything else, I'll let you know." As he ended the call with his superior, he quirked an eyebrow at Bones and the way she was staring at the bone she held in her hand, "Did you find something, Bones?"

"Maybe," She didn't even glance up as she responded to Booth's question and she seemed scrutinized the bone even more closely, pursing her lips together as if it might help her concentrate better.

"What's maybe?" Booth had known her long enough to know that if Bones thought there might be something there that there usually was. He had learned to let himself trust her scientific instincts and more often than not it had paid off.

She didn't say a word until she'd placed the vertebrae under a magnifying light to get a closer look, "There," she gestured for Booth to take a look. She was glad that she had examined the remains herself rather than delegating as Angela had suggested earlier; not that she doubted Zach's ability, but she had experience that he didn't and he might not recognize the mark on the bone the way she had. Although she hadn't taken a break for hours, she reasoned that she could sleep later, for now this little discovery was another little generator to boost her energy level that had been flagging earlier.

"O-k-a-y," Booth didn't see anything other than a bone in her hand, "You're gonna have to help me out here, Bones, I don't have squinty-vision." He let out a soft chuckle at his play on words and quickly swallowed them as he noticed Bones rolling her eyes.

"The mark right here appears to be from a knife, and given the depth, the lack of hesitation in the cut and that this is on the interior side of the vertebrae, I'm guessing that the knife is military issue." Brennan glanced up to see what Booth's reaction would be.

Booth raised his eyebrow at her skeptically, "You're _guessing_ military issue." Bones didn't usually guess about anything; in fact she routinely found postulating scenarios a distraction from the evidence.

"I'll have Zach take an impression and I'll check the remains for additional marks, but in my experience wounds like this, with this kind of brutality come from someone with extensive military training," Brennan wasn't sure what the implication of such a discovery would be, but one thing she _was_ sure about was that whomever had killed these boys knew what they were doing because so far she had only detected evidence of a single horizontal knife wound on each of the victims in nearly the exact same location.

Booth was trying to wrap his mind around what she was saying and as it sunk in his brow furrowed deeply, "What a sick bastard." His mind began to spin at all of the possible scenarios of what would motivate someone to essentially execute four children in an extremely brutal fashion; there wasn't a single one of the scenarios that didn't make his stomach churn. He felt anger rise up from the very core of his being, "This was no thrill kill, Bones; whoever did this was trying to cover up something and these boys just happened to pick the wrong day to go to the movies."

"What do you think they saw?" Her expertise was discovering the identity of the victim and helping to determine how they died; with Booth's response she found she had a sudden sinking feeling deep in the pit of her stomach. She didn't jump to conclusions as a rule, but she found herself furiously postulating in her mind and she knew no matter what scenario she might imagine the truth would probably be ten times worse.

"I don't know, I really don't know." Booth regarded his partner with concern; deep down he could feel that this particular case was going to be far more difficult than he'd first imagined. He couldn't keep the worry out of his voice as he spoke, "But if someone was willing to go to the extent to kill four little boys to keep them quiet, they aren't going to have any second thoughts about killing a forensic anthropologist either."

"I can take care of myself, Booth; I've survived Guatemalan death squads," Brennan knew what was coming next and she instinctively bristled against it, squaring her shoulders and standing up straight.

"But you knew who _they_ were; we don't know _who_ we're dealing with here yet, Bones. You said it yourself; the knife was probably military issue; this is Washington, DC; 1973 was not exactly a quiet year around here; who knows what they could have seen or heard, or what someone _thought_ they saw." Booth shrugged his shoulders to cover up the shiver that went down his spine at the thought of what that implied. "I'm not letting you out of my sight until we know what we're dealing with, Bones."

Her arms were firmly crossed over her chest and her eyes narrowed at him as his alpha male tendencies seemed to seep out of his pores and envelope him, "I don't need you to protect me, Booth." It seemed ridiculous to her that the US taxpayers were funding the salary of an otherwise intelligent FBI agent who seemed to be unable to recognize that she did not need his protection.

Booth stared her down with as much concern as he could muster; his hands firmly on his hips, "No offense, Bones, but sometimes you don't know _what_ you need." Several impulsive thoughts filtered into his mind and he quickly filed them away for later under the categories of fantasy and wild dreams coming true. For now he needed to keep his thoughts a little more rational when dealing with Bones; and quite frankly when dealing with his libido while he was around Bones.

Brennan sputtered, "Excuse me?" There was fire in her eyes as she took a bold step towards him, "It might come as a complete shock to you, but I've managed to survive this long rather successfully, most of which I've done _without_ your help. I don't _need_ you to protect me."

With glances coming their direction from other work stations, Booth lowered his voice to a whisper and looked at her intently with a serious expression on his face, "Yes, you _do_." How could he explain to her that his gut was telling him that the second the identities of these four boys hit the network news and it was revealed that she had made the identification and was participating in the investigation that her life would be in danger? He could deal with his own life being in danger; he'd signed up for that when he'd joined the Bureau; hell, he'd joined up for that when he'd joined the Army. He didn't want her life to be placed in jeopardy.

"Booth," Brennan sounded exasperated at his insistence; she was fine, she would be fine, _she_ was the only person who had _never_ let Dr. Temperance Brennan down. As much as she derived a certain amount of satisfaction and pleasure out of this alpha male need Booth had to protect her from everything, rationally it made absolutely no practical sense whatsoever for him to feel that way and so she felt the need to assert the fact that she _could_ and _would_ protect herself _if_ it was necessary.

The same fire in her that irritated the hell out of him also drew him irresistibly to her like a moth to a flame; his tone softened as did his expression, "Bones, I'm your partner. This is what partners do, ok? I have your back, you have mine. Trust me, right now you _need_ to let me have your back, ok?" He hoped that his eyes could convey to her what his words seemed to fail to do. He was an FBI agent, an Army Ranger and a sniper; there wasn't much in this world that scared him, but for whatever reason, this situation and the thought of losing her because of it scared the hell out of him. "Will you trust me?"

Though it made no logical sense at all, Brennan picked up something in his eyes that suggested that he knew more than he was telling her and that now wasn't the time to argue about it. "I do trust you," Her words came out in a sort of whisper and even as she was speaking them and she saw the relief washing over Booth's face, she hoped she wouldn't regret agreeing to this without making him promise she could carry a gun.


	8. Chapter 8

"Booth, this really isn't necessary," Brennan had instantly starting having regrets about allowing him to 'not let her out of his sight', something that he seemed to have stepped up a notch as soon as they'd stepped foot outside of the Jeffersonian. They had made a brief stop at FBI headquarters where he'd made her sit in his office while he retrieved some files that he claimed were related to the case they were working on, but then insisted that she couldn't look at them until they'd reached her apartment; and then they'd stopped at Wong Foo's for some takeout so that there would be no reason for either of them to leave her apartment until it was time to head back out for work the next morning; the fact that Booth kept a change of clothes in his vehicle for emergencies meant that no stop at his apartment was required in the midst of all of this.

"Ah, now, Bones, you agreed, don't forget that," Booth knew that she'd protest; she wouldn't be his Bones if she didn't, but there was something in his gut that he needed to follow through with and until his hunch was either confirmed to be true or shown that he had just jumped to conclusions, he was going to stay good on his promise to shadow Bones.

"Why can't you just let me have a gun?" Brennan knew that she was more than capable of taking care of herself; there was a part of her that would probably always feel that she couldn't completely trust someone else to protect her. Booth had come closer than anyone else she'd ever known, but even he was human, no matter how much Angela tried to convince her that he was her very own FBI Agent in bullet proof armor.

"We've been over that; _I'm_ your gun," Booth pulled alongside the curb of her apartment building and glanced over at her as he turned off the ignition and put the SUV in park, "I'll grab the files, you grab the Wong Foo's?" His irresistible boyish grin flashed her direction in hopes of disarming her argument that all of this was completely unnecessary; hopefully it really would be, but only time was going to tell if that was true and in the meantime, he was going enjoy the fact that he got to spend a little extra time with his partner.

Brennan rolled her eyes at he alpha male rearing its protective head, "But I'm a good shot, it would be a lot easier if you'd just let me carry a gun." Certainly she'd had a couple of mishaps in the time she'd worked with Booth, but they had been completely justified even if she wasn't supposed to be carrying a gun in the first place.

"It's not up to me, Bones," There was a hint of impatience seeping into Booth's tone and as they took the elevator up to her apartment he was keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. The identities of the four boys hadn't been released to the media yet; they were still trying to track down all of the families, but the ages and the year they'd died _had_ been released and so he felt a bit more on edge; ready for any potential threat until he knew for sure that Bones was safe.

Brennan opened the door to her apartment and headed towards the couch, leaving Booth to close and lock the door behind him as she set the food down on the coffee table, "It isn't logical; I'm a good shot and if I'm in danger, why can't I arm myself?" She thought that he was being a bit overprotective even for Seeley Booth and a little too secretive about the files he'd picked up at the Bureau.

"It doesn't have to be logical, Bones, Cullen says you can't carry a gun; you can't carry a gun," He looked amused at her insistence; some things in life just weren't logical and they never would be no matter how you analyzed it. Bones was a case in point; they were complete opposites on many levels and yet they made up a great team as partners, and if he was being honest with himself, they would probably be a great team romantically as well, but that was a line he had clearly defined in the proverbial sand and even toeing across it was potentially hazardous.

"Fine," She seemed resigned for now, but in her mind the argument about her carrying a weapon while assisting the FBI would at some point swing in her favor. She turned her attention to the files that Booth was shifting through on the coffee table and as she opened up a carton of the food from Wong Foo's and pulled out an egg roll she leaned over trying to catch a glimpse of what he was looking at, "Are you going to tell me what those are for, or did you plan to keep me out of the oval?"

"Loop, Bones, it's out of the loop, and no, I'm not going to leave you out of it," Satisfied that she'd shifted gears, he glanced over at her with an intense eagerness that conveyed that he'd wanted to share his hunch with her since he'd first thought of it, but for some reason had held back; his voice took on a conspiratorial tone even now, "When I first came to the Bureau there were a few cases that they used as part of our Academy training; I haven't thought about it for years, but since you squints figured out when our victims died, I started to wonder if maybe there was some sort of connection; there are just too many coincidences to think that they're _not _connected."

Brennan's curiosity was piqued, "What connection?" Booth had a look that she hadn't really seen before, but she was sure it was a mixture of awe, fear, and excitement that he was about to catch the bad guys.

"Back in June of 1973 a woman named Elizabeth Thompson worked for the assistant to the deputy director of the Bureau disappeared; she was privy to a lot of classified information, and back then there was a lot of dicey stuff happening in Washington," Booth let out a sort of scoff at his understatement of the situation.

"I don't understand; what does this woman have to do with those four boys, Booth?" Brennan's brow was furrowed as she considered that she couldn't see any obvious connection based on the evidence that she had seen thus far.

"I'm getting to that, Bones," His face had that look of 'give me a chance to explain' all over it, "She disappeared the _same day_ those boys went to that movie; no one ever found a body, but foul play has always been a consideration."

"Why would there be an assumption that she was murdered?" Brennan didn't like to hear possible conclusions without evidence to support it, but she could tell that Booth wasn't quite done and so she offered him an apologetic glance.

"For one thing there was a sizeable blood pool found in her house, the blood type matched hers but DNA testing hadn't been developed yet so they couldn't make a positive identification beyond that." Booth felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as he continued; watching as Bones seemed to be processing the minutia of the facts as he spoke, "I checked the file, Bones, the address that Elizabeth Thompson lived at was the same address where we found those boys."

The gears were spinning in Brennan's mind, "So you think whoever was responsible for the deaths of those four boys is responsible for whatever happened to Elizabeth Thompson." It seemed like a logical conclusion given what Booth had told her so far.

"Yeah, I mean it's a little too coincidental if you know what I mean," Booth let out a nervous laugh; he wasn't sure yet who he thought might be responsible for the crimes, but his mind was full of possibilities that fed the paranoia that seemed to be building in him ; making him even more protective of Bones than usual.

Brennan looked at him skeptically as she considered his words, "I don't understand." She wasn't sure what he meant exactly, but whatever it was he seemed to think that it was an extremely big deal.

"C'mon, Bones, she worked for the _assistant to the deputy director of the FBI_...the man who _was_ deputy director in 1973 ended up being Deep Throat." Booth didn't think that a conspiracy theory was all that far off base; in fact it just might be right on target.

"Deep Throat," Brennan swallowed another bite of food and raised a single eyebrow at him to confirm that he was in fact implying what she thought he was.

"You know...Deep Throat...The Washington Post...Richard Nixon...Watergate?" Booth certainly hoped that Bones knew what the hell he was talking about as he shot her an exasperated look.

"I know about Watergate, Booth, but how can you be sure that any of these deaths are connected to it?" Brennan could certainly see a lot of coincidences that fit a Watergate conspiracy theorist point of view, but there might be several other explanations more benign and not quite fit for the plot of a spy novel, but definitely valid explanations for what could have happened.

"How do you know they aren't?" Booth knew he had her on this one and he could see from the spark in her eyes that it was going to be a very late night as they poured over every detail in those files.


	9. Chapter 9

Booth watched with a hint of admiration and amusement as Bones devoured each and every one of the files that he'd brought over and a good portion of the food they'd picked up at Wong Foo's as well. The later it seemed to get, the more Bones had to fight to stay awake and despite some lively discussions with Booth on possible scenarios that key points within the case file brought to mind as they reviewed them, and Bones insisting that that they didn't have enough evidence to draw that sort of a conclusion just yet, it was becoming more and more obvious that she was fighting to stay awake. Her head began to bob forward with increased frequency and it was all Booth could do to keep his smile at bay at how endearing he found it, "You falling asleep on me there, Bones?"

"No, I'm fine," Brennan was bone tired, but she wasn't ready to give this up quite yet. She wanted answers and since Booth was convinced that there had to be a connection between these two cases, she was looking for anything plausible that might tie them together while trying to temper her opinion with the actual evidence they had which at this point still wasn't much.

Booth let out a little chuckle, she was fine alright, but it had nothing to do with her not being tired, "Bones, take a break, we don't have to work _all_ night." Of course she probably would see that as some sort of challenge, but he was there to protect her not to keep her up working so long that she was completely exhausted.

"It's only 11:30," Her voice even sounded tired and her eyes kept fluttering shut of their own accord; she let out a deep sigh and gave in a little as she leaned her head back and sank deeper into the couch, "I'm just going to rest for a few minutes; don't let me fall asleep."

A grin spread across Booth's face at the site of her; hair fanned out and her lips looking slightly pouty, "Sure, Bones." He had no intention of waking her up; she needed the sleep and he could dig into a few more files this way and polish off the rest of the fried rice. As he popped a bite into his mouth he could see the tension slowly soften in Bones' face as she fell asleep and he had to fight the urge to reach over and brush his fingers against her cheek; a move like that could bring out her self defense moves and he for one wanted to keep his manhood intact.

As much as he tried to focus on the case files that were left in the stack on the coffee table, he found himself much more focused on Bones now that he could study her openly with no recrimination or awkward moments. In fact after a while, he had set the files aside and had leaned back into the couch himself in an effort to get the muscles in his back to relax from being hunched over for so long. He turned his face towards Bones and as his own eyes began to feel heavy a smile plastered itself on his face. As he drifted off to sleep he was definitely thinking about his partner and his subconscious was telling him just how idiotic this proverbial line he'd drawn between them was.

It was hours later and Brennan was in that blissful state between sleep and wakefulness; that one place that she truly had no control over where her thoughts drifted and where she couldn't hide behind logic and reason. She had the distinct impression of being all cuddled up to a warm, strong male body and in the back of her mind the thought that this was the best Booth dream she'd had a in long time filtered through. Her partner genuinely _was_ the inspiration for the hunky FBI agent in her best selling books and it was dreams like this that just added to the imaginative juices for those steamy scenes her heroine somehow always seemed to find herself in with her partner. A smile flitted across her face as she could almost feel the strong musculature of Special Agent Seeley Booth underneath her fingers; and she would almost swear that she could feel little puffs of warm breath fanning out against her cheek; yes, this was definitely one of the best dreams she'd had in a while and she tried to make a mental note to find a way to spend more late nights working on cases with Booth.

Booth was smiling in his sleep; all the imaginary lines he'd ever drawn were completely erased and he was holding a very warm and soft Bones in his arms right where she belonged. He mumbled in his sleepy state, "Bones, you smell so good...just like Wong Foo's." He let out a sigh and cuddled a little closer, feeling very satisfied at how real all of this felt.

It wasn't until Booth actually spoke that Brennan's level of wakefulness quickly increased and she realized she really wasn't dreaming after all. She blinked her eyes open and tried to orient herself to why she was somehow tangled up with Booth on her couch in her apartment; she felt him snuggle even closer and she had to admit to herself that despite the fact that this was bound to get awkward in a few more seconds that she liked having Booth in this kind of close proximity to her.

"My Bones," Booth had a smile in his voice and he found his lips brushing against an earlobe and in the back of his sleep clouded mind he hoped to hell that he was nibbling on his pillow and not a real flesh and blood woman named Temperance Brennan or any other woman for that matter given the fact that his own ears had heard him say her name, because as real as his dream seemed, the shifting of a nice warm soft female body next to his shot him straight out of his reverie and right into a fully awake panic that she was going to kill him for somehow literally falling asleep on her while they were supposed to be working.

Brennan felt herself flush at how her partner was behaving; she had thought that she was the one that had dreams about him, but apparently he returned the favor and given the feel of his lips trailing along her neck and his hands splaying out across her back, she was fairly comfortable concluding that his dreams ran along the same lines that hers did. She blinked hard as she realized he was waking up and she braced herself for the rejection she was sure would come; they were partners, they couldn't have a romantic relationship. Booth had said that there were some people that you just shouldn't sleep with, but then again, he had also said that everything happens eventually. Neither one of those statements did anything but cause a myriad of confused thoughts to filter through her mind as Booth's eyes opened and locked with hers.

Booth could feel his heart racing as he found himself suddenly looking into his partner's blue eyes, his voice came out much huskier than he'd hoped, "Morning, Bones." Since she hadn't kneed him in the groin or kicked his ass yet for ending up like this, he reasoned that he'd try the casual approach and hope that they could just chalk this up to another awkward situation.

"Booth," Brennan's voice betrayed her turmoil; she had intended to protest this situation and tell him that he should have woken her up so she could have slept in her own bed, but somehow his name rolled off her tongue in such a sultry way as she eyed his lips that she found rational thought a very difficult thing to grasp for the moment.

Booth couldn't seem to look away after the way she'd said his name; warmth shot right through him and all the way down to the tip of his toes. Everything in him wanted to kiss her just then and he found himself leaning incrementally closer finding her doing the exact same thing, "Temperance, you're so beautiful." Every reason that he'd held onto to keep her at arms length didn't seem to matter right then and even as something was jumping up and down in the back of his mind waving a red flag and setting off warning bells he glanced at her lips and leaned in.

Brennan couldn't form a protest as she felt Booth softly press his lips against hers and as she felt herself kissing him back she knew that she was probably making one of the biggest mistakes of her life and she somehow really didn't care.

It was the ringing of Booth's cellphone a moment later that caused them to break off the kiss and as he fumbled for it where it sat on the far side of the coffee table he reached a little too far and tumbled off the couch, somehow pulling Bones with him. The ridiculousness of the situation caused them both to start laughing, relieving a little of the awkward tension that was bound to happen after that kiss. Just as Booth finally got his phone in hand to find out whose call he'd missed, a shot rang out and a bullet tore through the couch where just a few seconds before he and Bones had been laying.


	10. Chapter 10

Booth was pacing impatiently back and forth in Bones' office as he talked on his cell phone to Cullen, "No, sir; I didn't inform you because it was a gut feeling," He paused and let out a rush of air in frustration as he listened to his superior give him something akin to a reprimand, "The only thing that I know for sure was that our crime scene was underneath the home where Elizabeth Thompson lived before she went missing," He stifled a grunt, "Yes, sir, _that_ Elizabeth Thompson." Booth glanced over at Bones who was sitting on the leather sofa with her arms wrapped around her knees as Cullen seemed to launch into a monologue dotted with expletives that could be heard clearly through the phone.

Brennan smiled softly at Booth even as she tried to quell the sense of fear that had risen up inside of her; that shot in the back of her couch in her apartment could have hit her, it could have hit Booth; she shuddered just thinking about it. Now more than ever she reasoned that the evidence seemed to point to the fact that someone did not want them to investigate the crime.

"Yes, sir, I verified the address, I pulled copies of the files; those boys disappeared around the same time Elizabeth Thompson did," Booth could tell that Cullen was not pleased about the turn of events at all. Not that he was displeased with Booth per se, but the fact that he and Bones had been shot at, quite possibly because of this little factoid, had just opened a Pandora's Box that had potential implication for suspects within the Bureau itself. He let out a deep sigh and nodded as he listened to Cullen, "Yes, sir, I don't plan on going anywhere; thank you, sir." He ended the call and as he looked up he locked eyes with Bones.

"What did Cullen say?" Brennan could only imagine what the director of the FBI had said given Booth's demeanor; she was fairly certain that it included her not being able to go home anytime soon; something that she was not happy about. Of course, she hadn't exactly been thrilled about being shot at either, but given the events of the morning she was having difficulty thinking completely rationally. At least she had the Jeffersonian; the high security here had been the reason that Booth had agreed to coming here that and the fact that the rest of the squints would be filtering in any time.

Booth sank down onto the couch next to her and captured her eyes with a soft glance, "We get to sit tight; he's personally looking into who had access to the file log and he's got a trace out on that hang up call on my cell phone." He wanted to pull her into his arms, but at the moment he didn't dare; he was still afraid that she might think that the kiss they'd shared right before they'd been shot at was a mistake. His hand seemed to have a mind of it's own as it enveloped one of hers and he noticed the conflicted expression in her eyes, "Temperance..." His words drifted off as his question about how she was doing was reflected in his eyes.

"Booth, I'm fine...I'm fine," She closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath, "I just can't think straight." If she was honest with herself it was thinking about that kiss that had her mind turned into gelatin, getting shot at was just icing on the proverbial cake.

Booth had a furrowed brow as he studied her; Temperance Brennan was usually unflappable, except when she was scared. He gave her hand a squeeze before releasing it and then scooted a little closer to her, slinging his arm around her shoulder before leaning over and whispering softly into her ear, "I'm not going to let anyone hurt you, Bones." When that shot had rang out he'd immediately sprung into action, keeping her covered with his body as he had pulled her into the kitchen; they'd waited there for another ten minutes before a team of FBI agents responded to secure the area.

Against her better judgment Brennan felt her body melting against Booth; the warmth from his masculine physique providing a measure of comfort that she didn't want to admit that she needed. She felt her defense mechanisms kicking in as she tried to grasp onto a single rational thought, "We need to talk about what happened earlier."

"That's what Cullen is looking into, Bones," Booth could tell that the experience of getting shot at in her own home had affected her maybe more deeply than when her refrigerator had exploded and he had been injured; at least then she'd had something else to focus on than the fact that someone had intended to kill her. Or maybe it was just that the more they did this job together, the more she seemed to encounter danger.

"That's not really what I was talking about," The soft touch of his fingers caressing her shoulder through the fabric of her blouse was a little distracting, but nevertheless, she needed to figure out how that kiss had happened and if there was any possibility of it happening again; because if it had been a freak accident she was tempted to threaten to kick Booth's ass; although if it _wasn't_ a freak accident then she wasn't really sure what to think.

"What _were_ you talking about then?" Booth's mind was spinning out of control; between trying to decipher anything he'd read in the files they'd gone over that would give them some clue that would lead them to a suspect to having Bones leaning against him like this; it was all a little too much for him to think clearly.

Brennan was sure she hadn't imagined what had happened only a few hours before and so she tried to keep her mind on task, not on the lovely sensations Booth's simple touch was causing, "On the couch earlier...when we..."

"Kissed?" Booth finished her sentence and a smile pulled at his lips as he remembered it in great detail. He was preparing himself for her to start backpedaling furiously; for her to say that it was all a mistake, but her body language betrayed any words of protest she might attempt to speak.

Brennan's eyes glanced up and met his warmly, "Yeah, when we kissed." She felt a fluttering sensation deep in her stomach as she looked into his deep brown eyes and it was as if an entire flurry of butterflies slowly unfurled and took flight. In true Brennan fashion she reacted with fear, "Maybe we shouldn't have done that." As if either one of them had been thinking clearly at the time to have prevented it.

"_Maybe_?" The fact that she hadn't unequivocally said that they _shouldn't_ have left room in Booth's mind for negotiation that they most definitely _should_ have; there was no mistake in his mind; it had been something far overdue and now that the line had been crossed, he had no intention of going back to the other side; unless of course she pushed him there.

"We're partners, Booth," There was a hint of worry in Brennan's voice as her brow furrowed and she secretly hoped that Booth would find a way to offer up a rational and logical argument for why that kiss had been a good thing; something that went far beyond 'it felt good'.

"Yes, we are...but don't you think that maybe we've been a little more than that for a while now?" Booth didn't really know where this courage was coming from; he had been the one that had drawn the boundary line of their relationship in the first place, but he had only done it because he was so damn attracted to her.

"I don't understand," Truly there was a part of her that _did_ understand, but there was the other part that was so hopelessly confused that she didn't really know what the right thing to do was; wanting Booth wasn't rational when you put him in the context of their partnership; wanting him outside of that was perfectly rational and logical given the glorious physique that nature had blessed him with.

Booth wanted this; wanted her and that had been underscored again earlier that morning when that bullet had zipped over their heads and had embedded itself in the back of her couch, "I care about you, Temperance." He seldom used her given name; preferring instead to use the nickname he'd created for her, created for himself really to place some distance between them to keep him from wanting her.

"But, I...," She was torn, she cared about him more than she'd cared about anyone in a very long time, but as she studied his face she seemed to find something there that quelled her doubts and her need for a logical, rational explanation. The corners of her mouth curled upwards, "I care about you too, Booth." She almost felt relief at the admission of her feelings and in very un-Brennan-like fashion she impulsively leaned in and kissed him.


	11. Chapter 11

Booth was a little dumbstruck that Bones had kissed him right in the middle of her office; not that he was complaining really, he had just figured it would take quite a bit of rational negotiation to get her to see that the kiss they'd shared earlier on the couch in her apartment hadn't been a complete mistake. He could tell that the expression on his face was throwing her for a bit of a loop as she pulled back and her eyes immediately clouded. His brow furrowed, "Bones."

"I'm confused," Brennan thought she had understood that he was interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with her, but perhaps that was a rather large leap from an accidental kiss and a confession that he cared about her. Caring about someone could mean many things; true he said that he thought that they'd been a little more than partners for some time, but maybe he was just referring to the friendship that had blossomed between them rather than the electricity that she'd felt when he'd kissed her.

Booth regained his composure quickly and reached for her hand before she had the opportunity to bolt, "Hey, don't be," the wattage on his grin increased exponentially and the tone in his voice was a mixture of mischief and smartass, "I'm just a little surprised that you'd be willing to do that _here_...I mean Angela could just walk in and..." He let out a soft chuckle.

Brennan's smirked at him, but there was smile in her eyes, "_Angela_ wouldn't have a problem with it." In fact Angela would probably squeal until she ran out of oxygen and then fainted from the excitement, or something along that line; she had been pushing Brennan to seize her very sexy FBI partner for some time, so really the only surprise that Angela would have was that she'd actually done it. In fact Brennan was a little surprised at herself for doing something about it, but she'd been thinking about it for so long that she had just needed an opportunity to present itself that she couldn't ignore; waking up on her couch with Booth while he mumbled her name in his sleep had been the perfect opportunity.

"No, I don't suppose she would," He let out another soft chuckle but the truth was, Booth was a little nervous about what might happen when word wound its way around the lab that he and Bones had finally taken the leap; only technically they hadn't taken the leap that in his mind at least would confirm that she was really serious about this, not that there had been time, what with ringing cell phones and flying bullets.

Brennan scooted closer to Booth intent on kissing him again; she reasoned that it was still early enough that at best Zach might be in, but generally speaking he wouldn't have a reason to stop in her office unless he knew for a fact that she was there. It was a risk to have someone walk in, but she'd considered the risk and she thought it was more than worth it; besides it was a kiss, just a kiss.

Booth didn't hesitate as he eagerly returned her kiss, threading his fingers into her hair as he tried to catalogue each and every sensation of kissing Bones in the back of his mind for easy retrieval later, right next to the red flags that were trying to remind him that when Cullen found out about this shift in their relationship that there just might be hell to pay. Booth was just settling in for a nice long make out session when it seemed Bones had decided she was done and she pulled away. His gaze was a bit lusty as he looked at her questioningly, "Temperance."

The rational scientist seemed to have arrived somewhere in the middle of the kiss, but she seemed rather flustered by the emotional woman who had started it, "Booth, I just think maybe it isn't a good idea to get accustomed to doing that here." She could see a slight confusion registering in her partner's eyes before he seemed to get it; in fact he seemed to get it before she knew she needed to.

"Accustomed?" Booth waggled his eyebrows suggestively; he was thrilled that she seemed to think that his kiss was that good and apparently wanted make it a recurring event. He felt just as flustered on the inside as she seemed to be on the outside, but he was used to projecting the in control big tough G-man persona.

Brennan was breathing a little harder than normal and there was a hint of pink tingeing her cheeks, "We have a case and now isn't the ideal time to let our biological urges get out of control." Truthfully, she wanted nothing more than to let herself lose control, but it really wasn't the time or the place for it.

"Well we can't do any more on our case until Cullen calls me back; we're sort of stuck here," He wasn't sure he could convince her to resume their kissing endeavor, but it was definitely worth a shot. He was still fixating on the fact that she'd alluded to getting out of control with him.

"I have hundreds of other remains that I can work on, Booth," The scientist in her was gradually taking control and returning her to her more rational and logical self. Clearly she needed to immerse herself in work so she wouldn't have to think about kissing Booth; she was fairly certain that Cam would have some objections to walking in and finding her and Booth in a compromising situation even if a situation like that would make Angela's year.

Booth let out a breath as a smirk stole over his face, "Just for the record, I have no intention of moving into the Jeffersonian until this case is over." He had considered what the options were after they'd been shot at. His apartment didn't have nearly the amount of windows that Bones' apartment had, but he wasn't sure that Cullen would buy off on them staying there, especially if it turned out that Booth and not Bones had been the intended target of their shooter.

"The Jeffersonian is perfectly secure," Brennan saw no need to venture beyond the confines of the lab; it was nearly a second home for her as it was and she reasoned that with the amount of security it was a far safer place than her apartment.

"We don't know who the gunman is," Booth could feel an argument coming on and he had been thinking this through long enough that he was sure that he could logically undermine all of her reasoning.

"Why do you assume that it's a man?" Brennan considered herself a good shot and a woman could certainly shoot a gun just as effectively as a man.

"Why do you assume that it's a woman?" He countered feeling rather pleased that now she'd have to explain herself. He puffed his chest out just a little bit; if he couldn't kiss her a good argument could be equally satisfying.

"I'm not assuming anything, it's just equally plausible that it could be a woman just as easily as a man, and didn't you say that Elizabeth Thompson's body was never found? Maybe she's the shooter," Not that Brennan actually wanted to believe that, but it would make wrapping this case up much easier if the woman was somehow involved.

"The giant blood pool, Bones, and the fact that she was never seen again; the FBI was fairly certain that she was murdered, now you're suggesting that she might be alive," Booth looked skeptical; it was true they didn't have definitive evidence that the woman was dead, but nothing in her file indicated that she even knew how to shoot a gun, and they'd already ruled her out as a suspect in the murder of the four boys based upon her stature alone.

"I'm just suggesting that if we simply rule out anyone that had a connection to her without empirical evidence to support it that we could miss something," It seemed perfectly logical to her.

"I couldn't agree more, Bones," He let out another sigh and reached for her hand, smiling at how easily she let him lace his fingers with hers, "You're staying with me until we figure this thing out, ok?"

"I thought we figured it out," Brennan looked slightly confused that maybe she still didn't know exactly what this thing between them was turning out to be.

"The case, Bones, I'm talking about the case," Seeley Booth looked incredibly pleased with just how flustered Dr. Temperance Brennan was getting over him.


	12. Chapter 12

When Angela arrived at the Jeffersonian, it was apparent that the discussion about the case was still in full swing because she followed the sounds of her favorite non-couple's bickering banter right into Brennan's office, "Well, you two certainly are here early." Her smile implied that she thought if something wasn't up that it should be.

"I'm always here early, Angela," Brennan could see that Angela's suspicion radar was up and her immediate instinct was to try and throw her off; she was not quite ready for her to find out about what was going on between her and Booth despite her earlier confidence.

"Booth isn't," Angela raised a single eyebrow in the hunky FBI agent's general direction and took note of the decidedly more casual attire he was wearing; typically he wore Armani or some other well cut designer suit, the dark jeans, though nice to look at when you considered how well they hugged his form, were definitely _not_ Armani.

"I am a hard working dedicated employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Angela; we generally do not observe regular business hours," Seeley Booth knew that he was sending out a smoke screen; he wasn't going to be the one to let the proverbial cat out of the bag about he and Bones. Sometimes being discrete was a good thing; especially around Angela Montenegro.

"Uh, huh," Clearly Angela doubted his dedication to the Bureau; what she did not doubt, however as blind they both might be, was his dedication to Brennan. "So what brings Special Agent Seeley Booth to the Jeffersonian so early this morning…and without his standard issue FBI suit and tie?" She smiled with glee, she knew she had him on something; what she wasn't sure, but she could bluff with the best of them.

"My suits are definitely not_ standard_ issue, Angela," Booth knew that she knew he was no slouch when it came to how he chose to dress; unlike more than a few agents he could name.

"We're working a case, Angela," Brennan really hoped that they could get back to the case. "Booth has to stay here because he got shot at."

"First of all, _I_ didn't get shot at, Bones, _we_ got shot at. Secondly, I have to stay here because I don't want _you_ to get shot for real," His chest puffed out in a rather manly display as he tried to convey that he wasn't just sitting there twiddling his thumbs waiting for Cullen to call him back.

"I thought you said that _we_ got shot at; since when is this about _me_ getting shot at? We were both there, Booth, and you said it yourself, we don't know who the gunman is so how can you assume which one of us was the target?" Brennan hated when he went alpha male on her; she was more than capable of taking care of herself; at least she wanted to believe that. The more time she spent with Booth, the more she doubted that she could get by without him.

Before Booth could interject another comment, Angela interrupted, "You got shot at? When did this happen? Why didn't you call me?" She alternated her pointed stares between Brennan and Booth to demand an explanation for why she hadn't been immediately notified.

"Well between finding cover, calling the FBI response team and giving our statements, I guess it slipped our minds," Booth knew that his tone was a bit sarcastic, but Angela didn't seem to realize that a real investigation wasn't like a movie.

"It only happened this morning, Ang. Booth was concerned that someone was intent on interfering with the investigation, so he put me under house arrest." Brennan didn't realize the implications of her confession until Angela's eyebrows mischievously arched.

"I would hardly call it house _arrest_," Booth snorted out in amusement, "I wasn't holding you hostage." Of course he hadn't minded holding her either; something that he was definitely looking forward to doing again while they were staying at his place. He only wished that situations like this didn't present themselves only when someone's life seemed to be in danger.

"You stayed with Brennan," Angela pointed at Booth to get clarification; neither one of them had mentioned anything about this little development of immanent danger in the case before they'd left yesterday; she really didn't like the idea of her friend being in the line of zipping bullets even if a hunky FBI agent was at the ready to shield her with his own body.

"We're partners; that's what partners do," Booth was only slightly amused at Angela's persistent interrogation.

"Professional or personal?" There was a delighted little smirk on Angela's face as both Brennan and Booth let out groans of annoyance.

Booth was about to say something along the lines of 'wouldn't you like to know?' when Brennan took a decidedly different tactic an interrupted, "We think the murder of those four boys is connected to another missing persons case. The body of the woman was never found, but Booth said there was a large blood pool in her house; it's the same house the boys were found under."

Angela was momentarily speechless.

"And the missing woman worked for the assistant deputy director of the Bureau," Booth hoped that either she could fill in the blanks herself or that she wasn't a student of history, because he certainly didn't want to connect the dots and increase the pool of potential leaks.

"Conspiracy, Hodgins would love this," Angela had a smirk on her face as she considered what that little tidbit of information might be worth to her boyfriend who was just on the other side of the lab.

"There's nothing about this to love, Angela," Brennan had that look on her face; the determined, passionate, forensic anthropologist with a purpose look, "Four little boys were killed to cover up a woman's murder; Booth and I were shot at because we're investigating."

As if on cue, Booth's cell phone rang, "Booth...yes, sir," He paused and nodded as he listened to the caller, "Shit...no, sir, that's what I was afraid of." He glanced over at Bones with a furrowed brow, "I don't think that a safe house will be necessary...I was going to have Dr. Brennan stay with me."

Angela seemed pleased by this little development and she noted the fact that Brennan didn't immediately protest the arrangement either which led her to believe that she and Booth had already talked about this or perhaps her wish for her friends were on the verge of coming true.

"Yes, sir," Booth ended the call, glancing up at the two women that were looking at him expectantly.

"What did he find out, Booth?" Brennan hoped that they had gotten a trace on the call from his cell phone so they would have at least one solid lead in their case.

Booth let out a frustrated sigh, "They traced the call to a disposable cell phone, which of course was bought with cash at a Cost-Mart in Alexandria."

"Call?" Angela looked confused.

"So we have nothing," Brennan sounded frustrated directing her question at Booth; not quite hearing Angela's question.

"What call? What cell phone?" Angela felt like she was talking to a couple of brick walls.

Booth ignored her as he focused on Bones, "He's going to see if he can get a warrant for video surveillance tapes for the register the purchase was made at, but he's not sure they have probable cause for a judge to buy off on it," Booth was thankful that even disposable cell phone purchases were the kind that even discount stores liked to keep close track of; he just hoped that the judge Cullen called was feeling generous.

Fire seemed to blaze in Brennan's eyes, "How much probably cause does he need? We were shot at." Her finely tuned sense of justice was shifting gears like a precision engine.

"Are you going to tell me what this call was about?" At the moment Angela felt like the paperweight on Brennan's desk for all the headway she was making in getting an answer to her question.

"We can't prove that the call and the gunshot are related, right now they're simply 'coincidental'," Booth could certainly appreciate the frustration Bones was feeling; he was feeling it himself too, but he also knew that they had to do this by the book or there was a chance that some low-life defense lawyer could get the shooter off; if they ever tracked this bastard down that is.

"Hello, standing right here, would like a little bit of information," Angela waved to try and attract a little attention.

"I have a hole in my couch where we were laying before your cell phone rang; if we hadn't fallen on the floor, that bullet would have hit one of us," Brennan didn't like the idea that her Italian leather couch was essentially ruined, but she was even more incensed that Cullen wasn't sure they had probable cause; what did the man need? Diagrams and flow charts?

Angela's eyes widened as the wheels in her mind started spinning at breakneck speed; she made a brief attempt to hold her smile at bay before she stepped in between the pair to make her presence known, "Ok, you two have a lot of explaining to do about this phone call you didn't tell me about and how in the world did you _both_ end up on the floor?"


	13. Chapter 13

"We both reached for Booth's cell phone," Brennan delivered the most logical and plausible answer she could think of; it was true, they'd both reached for it, but she left out the part about how she and Booth had been making out at the time. It wasn't that she wanted to keep things between her and Booth some big secret; she just wasn't quite prepared for anyone to know about it yet. Especially since she was trying to wrap her mind around all of the implications for a change in their relationship and there was still a part of her that couldn't really believe that it was actually happening.

Angela looked skeptical.

"We were reviewing the files from the other case and my phone ended up underneath them," Booth was rather pleased with himself for coming up with that one. He was picking up from Bones that now was not the time for Angela to know the entire truth and part of him was glad. Given Angela's reaction when she learned that he'd been seeing Cam, maybe it was a good thing to keep this _thing_ with Bones under wraps; at least until he knew she was sure about this. At the rate she kept backpedaling he wanted to make sure that they _had_ a romantic relationship before anyone else knew about it.

Disappointment flickered across Angela's face as she realized that maybe she'd read far too much into what she'd heard; she had definitely _wanted_ to read things into it and she was still convinced that the two of them getting together was only a matter of time, but apparently it wasn't _this_ time. She let out a frustrated sigh, "Fine, but don't think I'm not watching you two."

Booth looked amused, "You've been spending too much time around Hodgins and spinning your own conspiracy theories." She was right on target of course, but he was very good at bluffing.

Angela narrowed her eyes at Booth as a smirk flitted across her face, "It doesn't take a conspiracy theory to figure out that you and Brennan have chemistry; it's just a matter of time before you both either wake up and do something about it, or the chemistry will just combust on its own." She glanced over at Brennan anticipating the protesting look that appeared without fail on her friend's face, "And _you_, don't even try to deny what I'm talking about." Her smirked flitted into a satisfied smile as she turned on her heels and walked out of Brennan's office.

Booth let out a whoosh of air, "She is scary sometimes; it's almost like she can read minds." He raked his fingers through his hair and glanced at Bones who was trying not to laugh at it all.

"She's right though," A hint of pink infused her cheeks as she crossed her arms over her chest, "The chemistry did sort of combust on its own." Of course it had just been a spark or two so far; she was hoping that there might be some real fireworks in their future.

Booth let out a chuckle, "I'm not sure I'd exactly call _that_ combustion, Bones." His hands animated a mushroom cloud, "I sort of had something else in mind that would fit that word a little bit better." His tone implied that he was clearly looking forward to having her stay at his apartment until this whole case was resolved enough for him to feel like it was safe for her to return home.

There was a delighted smirk on Brennan's face, the pink hue in her cheeks toned down considerably as she realized that Booth's thoughts had been going in exactly the same direction as hers had, "Well, I guess we'll just have to wait until later now, won't we?"

Booth was trying to squash a little hint of self doubt, his tone was decidedly conspiratorial, "But there will be a later, right?" He was trying to gauge where she was coming from; he didn't want to get in too deep only to find out that she had second thoughts about it all. Hell, who was he kidding? He'd been in over his head for some time now; he was just hoping he didn't drown before they had it all figured out.

Brennan's lips were pursed together, but it didn't hide the smile on her face at all, "I am staying with you, aren't I?" She felt butterflies swarming in her stomach at the thought that maybe Booth wasn't as confident as he tried to project.

"That was the plan; bad guys with guns trying to kill us, you and me got each others back," Booth's voice had taken on a husky quality to it as he stepped a little closer to her.

Brennan felt her confidence boost, "Well, I guess we'll see what happens later then." She was tempted to kiss him right there, but with a suspicious Angela probably looking at them through the window right then, she held back. She was a master at holding back; a few more hours wouldn't kill her.

Booth felt like he could cut the sexual tension between them with a knife and he was about to say something witty and sexy in response, but he didn't have to. Hodgins burst in with a conspiracy theorist grin and killed the mood.

"Angela said your case might be tied to a missing persons case...someone who worked for the assistant to the deputy director...maybe you've got a rat at the FBI," Of course Hodgins didn't trust anyone in the government in general, except perhaps Booth, but then that in an of itself had taken some time.

Booth let out a frustrated sigh, "The thought has crossed my mind, but I believe that the term you're referring to is _mole_." Damn, these squints really did need to get out more.

"Rat, mole, they're both rodents, what difference does it make?" Brennan knew that there was an analogy at play somewhere in there, but in the end the result was the same – an unwanted pest.

"So what's the timeline on your missing person and the murders of those four boys?" Hodgins was genuinely curious beyond just the thrill of throwing a conspiracy into the whole thing.

"Same week, same day maybe; Elizabeth Thompson disappeared around the same time those boys went to the movies," Booth knew that there had to be a connection; he just wished that they actually had a potential suspect.

"Ooh, wasn't the guy that ended up being Deep Throat the deputy director of the FBI back in 1973?" The megabytes in Hodgins' mind began to crunch out all of the possibilities.

"Yes, he was," Booth was beginning to think that maybe having Hodgins help with the case on this level could be a good thing.

"And your missing person worked for assistant deputy director...that pretty much makes anyone who worked for the FBI in 1973 a suspect," It seemed fairly logical to him that whomever was responsible, if there was an FBI connection, that they would have had plenty of motive if they were involved in any sort of cover up, "Maybe she knew who Deep Throat was and threatened to expose him."

"That is highly unlikely," Booth scoffed; why did he even briefly consider Hodgins as an asset?

"He has a point, Booth, at least there's motive," Brennan concurred.

"But Deep Throat died several years ago; so there's no connection from him to whoever shot at us today," Booth looked at her with soulful eyes. He'd thought about this quite a bit, "But you're right, someone within the Bureau with that kind of information _would_ have motive. That's why I asked Garcia to pull together a list of agents that are still alive that might have had contact with Elizabeth Thompson."

Hodgins smiled, "Right on."

"What if it wasn't an agent?" Brennan knew that there were more than just agents working at the FBI; Elizabeth Thompson herself was a secretary of sorts, yet was privy to a great deal of classified information that people might not really pay much attention to. Surely there were dozens of others just like her that might fly under the radar so to speak.

Booth nodded soberly as a thought occurred to him, "Yeah, people like the gal down in records management who knew I'd checked those files out yesterday."


	14. Chapter 14

Hodgins had a rather mystified glint in his eye as the web of possible conspiracy theories began to grow; at least in his mind, "Dude, I'd hate to be you. Think of how many people work for the FBI; you'll be going through records for the rest of your career." This was the best conspiracy he'd personally stumbled across; especially given that there was more than an element of truth to it. The fact that there was a possible Watergate connection to it all just fed his imagination, "Maybe it was a White House love triangle gone bad."

"Hodgins," Booth didn't need to yell; he simply leveled an irritated gaze in the direction of the billionaire squint to shut him up. His irritation at the endless stream of suggestions from Hodgins; each one more outlandish than the last one had been building for the last half hour and in short, he'd had enough. The case was tough enough without an endless stream of useless ideas.

"He's just trying to help, Booth," Brennan sounded slightly distracted as she poured over one of the myriad of files that Agent Garcia had dropped by a few hours before.

"Trust me, that's not helping," Booth grumbled; it wasn't that he didn't appreciate the extra help, but the sort of help he preferred getting from Hodgins, Angela, and Zach was squinty help, not the pour over my FBI files and miss something a real law enforcement professional would hone right in on kind of help.

"Sounds like maybe someone didn't get enough sleep last night," The smirk on Angela's face was loaded with implications that she planned to press the issue about the couch until the real truth came out; she'd almost bought their explanation until she'd witnessed the body language of the conversation _after_ she'd left Brennan's office. There was definitely something up between them; she just wasn't sure exactly what that was; yet.

"Who didn't get enough sleep?" Zach glanced up and had a sort of blank confused expression that maybe there was some sort of inside joke that he hadn't been clued into quite yet.

"Booth didn't," Hodgins looked smug; Angela had filled him in on all the details that she wished had happened and what Booth and Brennan had actually said. He'd thrown in a few suggestions and between the two of them there were quite a few scenarios that sounded very plausible and quite naughty all at the same time.

"I got plenty of sleep," Booth's tone was sharp and he hadn't intended for it to be, but he wanted to catch the bad guy and all Angela wanted to do was catch him and Bones in a lip lock.

"You know, Agent Booth, irritability _is_ a sign of fatigue; perhaps Angela is right in that you didn't truly get enough sleep," Zach reasoned it out and he found it completely plausible that his lack of sleep had compromised his ability to accurately evaluate his own current sleep deprived state.

"Why is everyone suddenly so concerned with whether or not I got enough sleep last night?" Booth glanced around Bones' office where they'd all gathered to go over the files.

"You _did_ get less sleep than I did, Booth," Brennan distinctly recalled drifting off to sleep while Booth was still reviewing files; it was only logical that he would be more tired than she was.

"Aha, I told you there was more to the story," Angela looked as if she could almost smell victory and she raised a single eyebrow and stared down both Booth and Brennan where they sat side by side.

Brennan rolled her eyes, "We're working a case here, Ang; just like Booth and I were working the same case last night." Angela would find out soon enough about the developments between her and Booth, but definitely not right now.

"You and Agent Booth spent the night together?" Zach pursed his lips a little as he tried to see if he could come to the same conclusions that Angela seemed to be trying to draw from the evidence.

"Working the case," Booth was annoyed now and he glanced around the room giving everyone a pointed stare, "The same case that some whacko gunman is trying to stop us from investigating, which is the reason that I spent the night at Bones' place. On. The. Couch." His last three words were directed right at Angela in an attempt to get her to stop pushing.

Angela's eyes were dancing with mischief even as she turned her attention back to the file and mumbled under her breath, "Methinks the FBI hottie dost protest too much." Only Hodgins was within earshot and her comment elicited a snicker from him.

Booth glared at him.

"What? Hey, _someone_ in here needs to lighten up...all of you are a little too tightly strung today," Hodgins waved in the general direction of Zach, Booth and Dr. Brennan. He had a point; you could cut the tension in the room with a chain saw. Zach of course _always_ seemed a little tense, but he began to think that maybe if Angela's wish came true there would be a lot less tension in the room from the other two. He thought that both Booth and Brennan had the look of two people that wanted to jump each other but couldn't for all of the other people in the room and the bank of windows dividing it from the rest of the lab.

If Booth could have wished for a phone call to drop from the sky it couldn't have come at a better time and as if the cell phone gods themselves were intervening on his behalf as his phone rang, "Booth." His jaw clenched as he listened to the voice on the other end of the line, "Threatening a federal agent is a felony." He pulled the phone away from his ear as he realized that the line had gone dead and let out a growl and looked at the display, "Son of a bitch." He glanced around the room and noticed that everyone was staring at him.

Hodgins broke the silence, "Dude, what the hell was that?" Clearly given the furrowed brow and twitching jaw of their favorite FBI agent this wasn't some other agent pulling a prank.

"Booth?" Brennan looked concerned; despite her need for rational thought, she had a feeling that the hang-up caller from that morning was the person who had called just now.

Booth gestured towards the squints, "I need you three to take a break."

None of them made a move to leave.

Booth raised an eyebrow and then pointed towards the door, "I need to make a phone call and I need the three of you out there." He didn't want to launch into an explanation about this being official FBI business and that only Bones needed to be privy to this particular conversation.

Brennan just gestured with her head towards the doorway until the other three got up and filed out with curious expressions on their faces. She glanced over at Booth, "Are you going to tell me what that was about?"

Booth let out a frustrated sigh and looked into her eyes, "The number matches the hang up call from this morning; the voice was electronically distorted and he said that if I don't back off the case that he isn't going to give a warning shot next time." He didn't want to go into anymore detail than that for the moment.

Brennan's brow furrowed, "I'd say that's enough probable cause for Cullen to get a warrant for those surveillance tapes." Inside she was fuming that someone would dare threaten them at all; she for one wasn't about to back down and she knew that Booth wouldn't either.

Booth let out a soft chuckle before he furrowed his brow and began to punch in Cullen's number, "It sure as hell is, Bones, it sure as hell is."


	15. Chapter 15

With a firm connection between the shooter and the mystery caller established Cullen had no problem procuring a warrant for the surveillance tapes from the Cost-Mart; however, if Booth thought he was going to get to serve the warrant, he was sadly mistaken. Cullen wanted him to stay on task; pouring through the files that Garcia had brought over and he suggested that perhaps Booth should take Dr. Brennan and the files and head to his apartment where at least in his opinion it would be much easier to have FBI back up close at hand if the shooter made another appearance. Of course when Cullen made a suggestion it was in reality an order and so grumbling under his breath at being reduced to desk work in his own home, Booth packed up the file boxes and headed out with Bones in tow.

"I really don't want to put you out, Booth," Brennan was feeling flurries of butterflies swirling in her stomach at the thought that she was going to be alone with Booth and she didn't feel like she'd have a shred of self control if he kissed her again.

"Bones, I told you, I'm not leaving you alone until we catch this guy, and besides, your apartment is still a crime scene," It was true, but it was definitely a convenient truth that Bones was going to spend the night and that little factoid had his mind spinning at warp speed.

"Yes, I'm aware of that; I couldn't even go back and get a bag of clothes," Brennan didn't like not being able to go sleep in her own home; but she knew logically of course that she had too many windows and with one shot already taken at them they would be sitting cows, or hens, or whatever the analogy was.

"Agent Garcia said they packed a bag for you after they finished up earlier and they were going to drop it by my place after they'd done a security sweep," It irritated Booth that other agents had to invade his personal space, but Cullen had made it clear that it was either that or spend the night at a safe house. He of course had opted for the temporary invasion of privacy.

"Oh," Brennan furrowed her brow as she considered that someone had gone through her things to pack a bag; somehow the idea that someone had gone through her underwear in particular had her feeling unsettled.

"You ok over there, Bones?" Booth could tell that she seemed uncomfortable and he hoped that she wasn't having second thoughts about that line they'd crossed because he was certainly hoping that they could just keep on crossing it and perhaps see how far over the line they could get. Now that he'd kissed her he wasn't going to be particularly satisfied with her being just his partner.

"Yeah," The apprehension was apparent in her voice; it wasn't apprehension about Booth per se, but the case; the fact that they had to go into lockdown to avoid a gunman made sense, but it angered her that they had to be in that situation in the first place.

Booth reached for her hand and gave it a quick squeeze; as he notice a tiny smile playing out across her lips he felt his courage buoy, "You know the bonus in all of this is that I get to hang out with my favorite squint." He winked at her as she glanced up.

Brennan let out a soft laugh and the smile on her face widened as she squeezed Booth's hand back, "And I get to hang out with my favorite FBI agent." There was something oddly comforting about just holding onto his hand as they drove towards his apartment.

Booth knew that there were agents watching over his apartment, but it still made him a bit uneasy as he pulled up to the curb and shut off the engine; he'd promised to protect Bones, but the truth was he knew that if this madman was what he thought he was, no amount of FBI agents were going to stop a bullet. The best he could do was to keep her between him and the building so that he took the shot and not her. He was relieved when they were finally safe and secure inside of his apartment and he offered Bones a friendly smile, "Make yourself at home; I'm just going to make sure that there isn't anywhere he can get a clean shot," He knew what a sniper looked for and he had to assume that this was what they were dealing with.

"Where do you want me to sleep?" Brennan really didn't think about how that sounded, but as Booth rounded the corner back into the hallway were she stood her cheeks flushed at the mischievous grin on his face.

"I don't want to be presumptuous, Temperance," Booth glanced towards his bedroom and then towards the sectional couch in the living room, "I know where I'd _like_ you to sleep, but if you're not comfortable with that, I'll sleep on the couch." He hoped that Bones was feeling as bold as he was because he knew that he would sleep a whole hell of a lot better if he could hold onto her.

Brennan smirked, "So how is this going to work exactly; if I sleep with you that is?" She didn't want to assume that he wanted to have sex with her; of course that was pretty much all she'd been thinking about outside of their case since he'd kissed her this morning on her couch. She'd be lying if she said she'd never imagined what sleeping with Seeley Booth would be like; he was a wonderful example of the male form and although she preferred bones to soft tissue; his soft tissue was something she was more than curious about exploring.

Booth grinned at her, "How is what going to work, Bones?" He wasn't sure if she meant that actual encounter that he hoped to God was going to happen or how all of this was going to affect them in general. He was hoping for the latter.

Brennan felt a moment of doubt until she noticed the sincerity in Booth's eyes, "This; us I mean...if there is an 'us'," She gestured between them, "How is this going to affect our partnership?" She wanted whatever this was with Booth to happen, but she needed to know that he wasn't going to be the one having regrets about it later; he meant too much to her to lose him like that.

Booth reached over and touched her cheek; a gentle smile playing out over his lips, "I want there to be an 'us', Bones. I don't know how it's going to affect our partnership, but I think I'd have even more regrets if we didn't at least try." His thumb caressed her cheek softly as his mind raced a million miles an hour that this was finally happening. He tried to control his grin which was starting to hurt his cheeks.

Brennan nodded in agreement as her smile widened into a grin, "Yes, I think we need to try." She felt like she had Angela inside of her mind jumping up and down and squealing with delight that something real was finally happening between her and Booth.

"Good." Booth's tone was slightly husky as he leaned in and softly kissed her; there were no bullets flying, no phones ringing, and no squints to scrutinize them; he could simply enjoy the fact that he was kissing Temperance Brennan.

By the time they pulled apart a few moments later, Brennan had her arms wound around Booth's neck and she was grinning like a fool as she whispered softly, "I have been wanting to do that all day."

Booth grinned back at her as he pulled her body closer and rested his forehead against hers, "So have I." Despite the fact that they still had a mountain of files to sift through before they could call it a night, he leaned in for another leisurely kiss which she eagerly responded to. The case could wait for at least a few more minutes.


	16. Chapter 16

"This would have been much easier if all of these records were in a database," Brennan commented as she picked up yet another file and leaned back into the sectional sofa in Booth's living room that they were settled onto shoulder to shoulder.

"Well if it was easy, we would have this guy behind bars already," Booth commented under his breath as he glanced through another file and then tossed it to the side, "Just keep looking for anyone with special forces training; the way you described the COD of those boys my guess is that we're dealing with someone who was trained to kill."

"So someone like you then," Brennan wasn't being accusatory; she was simply stating a fact that someone with Booth's background would make an ideal candidate for a suspect.

"And about thirty years older," Booth knew she wasn't really thinking about how what she said sounded, but it still stung a little that someone in his shoes had made a choice to cross over to the dark side and kill four little boys in cold blood to possibly cover up another murder.

Brennan glanced over at him and noticed his furrowed brow, "I wasn't inferring that it was you; you were with me when we were shot at." It wasn't at all logical or even plausible that Booth could be the suspect; besides the fact that he'd been with her the entire time, he was a good man, probably the best man she knew and despite the fact that he carried around his own guilt from the people that he'd killed as a sniper in the military, she knew he would gladly put himself in harms way if it meant that he could save someone else.

Booth glanced over at her and couldn't help but smile at her; his tone was soft, "I know that, Bones." Her lips twitched into a smile as their eyes locked and Booth couldn't help himself as he quickly dipped his head and pressed his lips against hers softly for a quick kiss.

Brennan let out something akin to a pleased giggle as Booth pulled away, "We're not going to get much work done if you keep doing that." Not that she really was complaining; she liked kissing Booth, in fact if they didn't have so many files that they still needed to get through she would have gladly spent the rest of the evening doing just that. It had taken a great deal of self restraint earlier to get to work on the case as it was rather than just keep making out by the front door.

"Well we'd be getting a lot _less_ work done if I _didn't_ keep doing that," Booth had a sexy smirk on his face; he would much rather adjourn this to the other room and forget about the case altogether until tomorrow if he thought he could get by with it. Bones had made a point, however, about how they needed to make some headway on this case so they could catch the killer; a point of logic he really couldn't argue with since he was an FBI agent and someone had threatened to kill them precisely because of the case they were investigating.

Brennan's brows knit together and she leaned back away from Booth for a moment with a concerned look, "Now _this_ could pose a problem with us working together." She could imagine that if they did this over the normal course of working a case that they'd be hard pressed to get any work done at all and that wasn't good.

"What are you talking about, Bones?" Booth could tell that she was serious.

"I mean are we going to be able to work together if all either of us can think about is this?" Brennan felt a bit flustered; kisses were all well and good, but damn if she hadn't been thinking about a whole hell of a lot more than that and despite the fact that she was better than most about compartmentalizing things, she wanted Booth in the worst way and it was distracting the hell out of her.

"Maybe we just need to take a break from _this_," Booth gestured towards the files that lay strewn across the coffee table and in stacks on the floor along with a few cartons of Wong Foo's that another agent had been kind enough to deliver several hours earlier. He leaned a little closer to Bones and his voice was full of a thinly veiled desire for her, "Because I'm pretty sure that the reason neither one of us can focus on the case files is because we'd both rather be in the other room."

Brennan studied his face for a moment more as her mind tried to absorb his words, and when they'd finally filtered through all of her screens of rational and logical thought she leaned forward and pressed her lips against his as her hand slid up to caress the nape of his neck. Booth was right; she couldn't focus on the files and that certainly wasn't doing them or the case any good; all she wanted to focus on was him. Anthropologically speaking she couldn't argue with overwhelming biology.

Booth eagerly returned her kiss, his arms sliding around her slim waist and pulling her in close against his body. He'd dreamed of doing this so many times and he was appreciative of how her soft feminine curves felt pressed up against him. They traded slow leisurely kisses; neither one of them in any hurry to rush this since they were both quite certain where this was headed.

Brennan was the one who seemed to want to push things along as she broke off the kiss and with a sultry look in her eye and a slightly smoky quality to her voice, she whispered expectantly, "Should we take this in the other room? I'm not sure that you, me and couches are a very good idea." Her memory of being shot at was fresh in her mind and even though Booth had assured her that there was no way a sniper could have a clean shot at his couch, the bedroom seemed like a much better idea.

Booth smirked at her and his fingers reached out to tangle in her hair as he leaned in to capture her lips in one more long slow kiss, "Yeah, you make a compelling argument for the bedroom." He laced his fingers with hers and then pulled himself from the couch, bringing her with him and then pulling her right into another kiss as he slowly stepped towards his bedroom in a sort of slow meandering waltz. As they tumbled onto his bed fully clothed, Booth pulled back a little; he wanted to remember exactly how she looked just then; the way her hair fanned out across the comforter and the way her blue eyes seemed even bluer as he looked into them and the way her lips were kiss swollen, he was sure he'd never seen her look more beautiful to him than she did then, "Temperance, you are so beautiful."

Brennan wanted to believe him; she knew that he thought she was well structured and she did have more symmetry to her face than the average person, so anthropologically speaking it made sense that he thought she was attractive, but there was an emotional quality to his voice that stirred something within her that she had seldom felt in her life and it was unsettling and exciting all at once, "You look very nice too." She found his facial structure strong and appealing; his hands, his glorious hands were well formed and masculine; and that chest of his, well, she was definitely looking forward to touching just how well delineated his musculature was.

"_This_ is nice," Booth felt a compulsion to take this slow; he knew that while Bones was no innocent when it came to sex, that there was more between them than sex which probably scared the hell out of her and he did not want her to say something about how they'd just been satisfying their biological urges when the night was over.

Brennan felt nervous, this step between her and Booth was a big one; one that Angela had been pushing her to take almost since she'd met Booth, but it was something she wanted very badly. There was one nagging thought in her mind though and as she lay there just looking back at Booth as his fingers began to trail through her hair, "Did you and Cam have a relationship like this?"

Booth winced internally, but he could see how she was wearing her heart on her sleeve and he knew that she wanted to know how important this was to him; especially since he had been the one to draw that invisible boundary between them that what they were about to do could never happen, "No, Cam and I never had a relationship like I have with you...and that's a good thing." He smiled at her, hoping to put her at ease and he could see the gears turning in her mind as she considered what he'd just said, "I know I said that there was a line we shouldn't cross..." He could feel his heart beating faster now and from the way she seemed to be holding her breath, he thought maybe hers was too. "I think that I was just afraid of how I was feeling about you."

Brennan furrowed her brow at his last comment, "Why would you be afraid of a feeling you had about me?" It wasn't logical to be afraid of a feeling, unless of course it was the kind of feelings that she had for him, and as she thought about it, she concluded that it was only logical that this was exactly what he was talking about.

Booth grinned at her as he realized that she wanted this as much as he did; really wanted it, "Because there's a lot more at stake between you and me, Bones...if I screw this up I've ruined one of the best things that's ever happened to me."

A smile twitched at her lips and her hands slid up his chest as she leaned in closer and whispered against his lips, "So don't screw it up."


	17. Chapter 17

Brennan had definitely channeled her frequent fantasies about sleeping with Booth into his fictitious literary counterpart, but as creative as she'd written the encounters between her two leading characters, none of those compared with the simple reality of being with Seeley Booth. Not that it was the best sex she'd ever had, but it certainly had the potential to be there with a little more practice; something she was more than willing to give a little extra time to. She lay there on her stomach cradling a pillow in her arms as she looked over at Booth who seemed to mirror the satisfied smile that she wore; his fingers trailed down her back to where the sheet rested low on her hips and then back up again towards her neck where the tendrils of her hair fanned out across her shoulders. The rhythm of it was almost hypnotic and it caused Brennan's eyes to flutter shut as she let out a contented sigh, "Mmm, I almost think that I could let you do that all night."

"I think that could be arranged," Booth was perfectly content to just stay right there in bed with Bones for the rest of the night; it wasn't like the case was going to go away whether they stayed up all night reviewing files or perhaps went for a repeat of possibly the best sex he'd had in recent memory. He leaned over and pressed a kiss against her shoulder, "That was good, wasn't it?"

Brennan let out a soft chuckle, "It was definitely better than any recreational sex I've ever had." She stretched a bit and let out a yawn, the longer she lay there the more she realized that she was tired and it wasn't entirely Booth's fault.

"Well that's because _good_ sex is more than just responding to what you refer to as biological urges, Bones," Booth felt compelled to remind her that what had transpired between them was more than just a physical connection. As much as he'd been afraid to cross that imaginary line with her, now that they were well over it, he realized that it had always been just a matter of time before they'd gotten here and it had felt like the most natural thing in the world to him.

"Mmm, it was _great_ sex actually," Brennan couldn't help the faint blush in her cheeks as she opened her eyes and found herself looking into Booth's. There was a vulnerability in this moment with him that should have left her feeling completely unsettled, but instead she was finding that it felt like a little cocoon of safety had enshroud them and that no one could penetrate it; a completely irrational thought to be sure, but it did make her feel content.

Booth felt his ego enlarge tenfold at her confession, "Ok, then, _great_ sex involves your mind and your emotions; it's about connecting at a deeper level with who you're with." His eyes held hers for a moment and then he leaned in to kiss her, mumbling against her lips, "For the record, I think it was great sex too." He was probably understating things just a bit, but then again, he didn't want her to think that he was _overly_ confident in his sexual prowess.

As Booth pulled back, Brennan leaned forward a bit to steal a kiss of her own. Her lips lingered for a few long moments and then as she pulled back her fingers seemed to find their way over to his chest where they began to trace his well defined musculature, "You have no idea how many times I've imagined being able to touch you like this." Her blunt honesty surprised her a little, but then again within the context of just having had sex with Booth, it seemed perfectly natural to tell him that she admired his physique and judging from the way he was looking at her, it seemed that the admiration was mutual.

"I think you're hot too, Bones," Booth waggled his eyebrows a little; just enough to make her giggle. He was definitely going to have a much more difficult time not having inappropriate thoughts about her while they worked together than he'd already had because now he was well acquainted with every inch of her skin that was usually hidden underneath that blue lab coat she wore.

"We really should get back to the case," As much as Brennan knew it was true with all of those stacks of files sitting in the living room, her body really didn't want to cooperate at all. She was more relaxed than she had been in months and all she wanted to do was stay in Booth's bed.

"The case isn't going anywhere, Bones," Booth hoped that he could convince her just this once to leave the work until the morning. She was a workaholic and he knew he probably was too, but this was exactly the sort of distraction from work that they both needed, especially with some whacko looking for an opportunity to shoot them.

An amused smirk flitted across Brennan's face, "Are you trying to seduce me?"

"Is it working?" Booth's fingers trailed down her back, coming to rest on her hip as he reveled in the fact that he could touch her at will without having to worry about protecting his manhood. "Because if it's _not_ working, I could try a little harder." To emphasize his point he slid his hand underneath the sheet and gave her ass a firm squeeze.

Brennan tried to restrain her smile as she inched closer to him; her voice held a hint of mischief as she whispered, "Well, since I'm already naked and I'm in your bed, I'd say that things are definitely looking good for you." Now that she knew what it was like to be with Booth it definitely wouldn't take much at all for him to convince her. She leaned in and eagerly responded to the kiss that he pressed against her lips.

The kiss which started out soft and tender quickly gave way to one that was more passionate and it seemed that the seduction that Booth was intent on was working very well. Booth was sure that they were well on their way in round two when Bones mumbled something that seemed out of context given where his hand was currently located; he paused for only a fraction of a second, but it was enough for her to repeat herself a little more coherently.

"Was Elizabeth Thompson involved with an agent?" Brennan wasn't sure why having herself wrapped around a rather manly Seeley Booth would make her think about the missing woman who was the key to solving their case, but as her mind began to catalog things about Booth that she could only file under 'sexy FBI hunk', an idea hit her scientific mind and it short circuited her libido for a moment.

"What?" Booth's libido on the other hand was in full swing and he was trying to focus his mind on the fact that Bones was suddenly working the case and he, well he was working on something else entirely that at the moment seemed far more important than the case.

Brennan's hair was fanned out across the pillow and she was breathing heavily, but her eyes were beginning to get that focus that meant she could be up for days working and not even miss the sleep, "I was just thinking that maybe she was seeing an agent and she heard something she shouldn't have; maybe it had nothing to do with who she worked for."

Her theory certainly had merit, but for the time being, Booth didn't really posses the mindset to think about Elizabeth Thompson and he let out a soft groan, "Bones, you're killing me here...can we talk about the case after we..." A certain part of his anatomy was feeling much more hopeful than the staccato words coming out of his mouth might indicate.

Brennan answered him with a kiss; even her scientific mind couldn't shut out a sexy Seeley Booth completely.


	18. Chapter 18

"It's as plausible as any other theory we've come up with," Brennan's fingers curled around a cup of coffee as she sat cross legged on the couch in her office while Booth paced back and forth with one hand on his hip and one sort of cradling the back of his neck.

"I don't know, Bones, we don't have any evidence that she was seeing anyone," He didn't want to discount her theory entirely; he couldn't disprove it based on what was in Elizabeth Thompson's missing persons file, but the problem was he couldn't prove it either and he just wanted to find the bad guy and put him away behind bars for the rest of his natural life. The fact that he was leaning more and more to the opinion that their suspect was an FBI agent gone bad was giving his imagination a run for it as he considered whether or not this rogue agent was someone that he still worked with at the Bureau.

"It could be a CIA agent for that matter," Brennan knew that the precision of the killing spoke to someone trained for it, but the brutality spoke of impulse, perhaps derived out of passion. Maybe it was her own passionate encounter with Booth that had made her think about the possibility that there might be more to this than some great government conspiracy like Hodgins would like to think.

"Great, CIA, FBI, next you're going to suggest NSA," Booth sounded somewhat exasperated; they'd been back at the Jeffersonian far earlier than he'd have preferred; he would have preferred to spend a few more hours in bed with a naked Bones. However, duty to country and a need to figure out who in the hell wanted to shoot them made him somewhat willing to get dressed and haul all of the files back to her office.

"I wasn't going to say that, Booth," Brennan hadn't given any indication that she thought someone from the National Security Agency was involved; not that it wasn't something to consider, given that the woman worked for the FBI and might occasionally run across someone from the CIA or the NSA for that matter, she quite possibly could have justified a romantic involvement with someone who worked for another government agency far more easily than someone who worked for the FBI.

"You might as well have," Booth stopped and faced her, both hands on jis hips as he raised his eyebrows and tilted his head slightly, "Is anyone else even here, or could we have discussed all of this at my place over real food?" Of course in his mind, that real food would have been eaten in bed followed by a nice little dessert course; ok, so maybe Bones had a point that coming into the lab would help them to focus on the case a little better than staying at his apartment. He let out a frustrated sigh and sank down next to her on the couch.

Brennan smirked at him in amusement, "Are you saying that you wanted to have sex again?" For a man who had almost always changed the subject when the topic of sex had come up in the past he certainly didn't seem to have a problem focusing on it now that he was having it with her.

"As a matter of fact," Booth's voice dropped down to a sexy tone as he leaned towards her with a conspiratorial look on his face; if he even thought that there was a remote chance she'd go for it, he might consider risking getting caught; if it weren't for all of the damn windows in her office and the fact that he'd just caught Angela walking their direction out of the corner of his eye. He cleared his throat as he scuttled his plan to kiss her.

"What?" Brennan looked at him a bit oddly; she knew that he was going to kiss her, but when he pulled away at the last moment she wondered why he'd stopped.

"Well, isn't this nice," Angela's smile was far too wide for a simple early morning greeting as she walked into Brennan's office and took note of the fact that they looked different somehow; she was immediately suspicious.

"Hey, Ang," Brennan smiled back at her and took a sip of her coffee; the reason Booth had decided not to kiss her was clear, and she wondered if he wanted to keep things discrete between them the way he had with Cam. She certainly hoped not; keeping secrets from Angela was nearly impossible when it came to her personal life, and keeping this kind of secret about her and Booth in particular would take something akin to a miracle, if she believed in them; no keeping this a secret was definitely _not_ worth the effort it would require.

"You're here early," Angela was fishing for information and she knew it; in fact she could tell that Booth knew it too, but it was Brennan that she hoped would take the bait and give her something irrefutable to explain why they looked much more couple-y than they had when they'd left yesterday.

"_Someone_ thought we should get an early start on the case instead of getting more sleep," Booth glanced over at Bones with a teasing look in his eyes; he clearly wasn't talking about sleep per se, just the sheer enjoyment of having her in bed next to him for a while longer.

"We got plenty of sleep, Booth; we turned in _early_ if I recall correctly," Brennan's eyes held an amused sort of challenge and as she felt her lips twitch into a smile that was unlike most of the smiles she offered in his direction, she heard a great rush of air being sucked into Angela's lungs and an allegiance to a deity come rushing right back out.

Angela's eyes were wide as she tried to reason that she couldn't possibly be seeing what she thought she was seeing; could it be that without any prodding and pushing from her that her favorite non-couple had finally crossed the threshold into couple-hood? After a short pause and a studied expression, a confident grin spread across her face, "You two _finally_ did it; didn't you?"

Booth thought it was far more fun to string Angela along rather than to just confess that not only had he and Bones finally done it; they'd done it several times and he was definitely looking forward to doing it again, "Did what?" He feigned his best confused expression, but he could tell that she wasn't buying it.

Angela rolled her eyes before narrowing her gaze at the pair, "You're going to make me spell it out for you, aren't you?" She really should have expected this and she began to tap her toe in annoyance before glancing over at Brennan and raising a single eyebrow, "Bren?"

Brennan looked slightly confused, "What are you supposed to spell?"

Angela let a smirk squash the frustrated groan she wanted to let out and she shot Booth a look when he started to laugh.

"I don't understand," Brennan looked at Booth oddly, obviously he knew what Angela was implying or he wouldn't be laughing; she thought that it probably had to do with her and Booth, but she wasn't sure if Booth was ready to let the fish out of the bucket.

Booth smirked as he leaned over and whispered; trying to keep his voice low enough that Angela would have to strain if she wanted to hear, "She wants to know if you and I..."

"If you and I what?" Brennan didn't see the need to whisper since she was just trying to clarify what Angela was asking. She looked from Angela to Booth and back again.

"If you two slept together," Angela rolled her eyes again; really, these two could be so exasperating when it was obvious what she wanted to know; surely Brennan should know by now what she'd been pushing for since Seeley Booth had first become her partner.

"Oh, we did," A very satisfied grin spread across Brennan's face, "Several times in fact." Her grin widened as she began to replay the events in her mind.

Booth let out a groan, "Bones, did you have to give her details?" He wasn't against people knowing that he and Bones had finally become an item, but he did have a problem with the squints hearing all about how he was in bed.

"And it was really good, too," Brennan seemed pleased that she could finally tell Angela something she'd wanted to hear for a long, long time.

"I thought you said it was _great_," Booth's brow was furrowed as he glanced over at her; his opinion of his own prowess beginning to wilt.

"Yes, I did say that; it was great, but I thought I'd give it room for improvement," There was a slightly mischievous look in Brennan's eyes as she regarded her partner turned lover; he wasn't the only one that had wished they'd had sex just once more before they'd left his apartment for the Jeffersonian that morning.

Angela was uncharacteristically speechless.


	19. Chapter 19

"Ang, I'm not sure why you're so surprised that something actually happened between Booth and I," Brennan glanced up from where she was reviewing one of the many files they still had left to go through, "You've been pushing me towards him for a long time," She gestured with a pushing motion to emphasize her point. Not that in retrospect Brennan regretted Angela's insistence that there was something inevitable about her and Booth being together; she could see that clearly now. Almost as soon as Angela had regained her ability to speak, she'd launched into an interrogation of sorts that Booth had quickly escaped under the guise of making a phone call to check in with Cullen; he'd been gone for quite a while and as a result Brennan had spilled out far more information than she'd probably meant to.

"And you've always said that it was _never_ going to happen, Sweetie," Angela had one of _those_ smiles as she let out a sigh, "I just thought it was going to take a lot more pushing before you finally saw what everyone else has been seeing for years." Ok, maybe years was pushing it; there had been quite a few obstacles in the way; Tessa, Michael, David, Cam, and Sully to name a few, but she'd always held out hope that the two of them would finally wake up and see what was right there in front of them.

"Well I wasn't completely wrong," A smile played at Brennan's lips, "This is definitely _not_ one of those friends with benefits things." Dating was the only way something between her and Booth could work; it still made her a bit nervous because they were partners, but she trusted Booth in a way that she hadn't allowed herself to trust any other man since her parents had left her and Russ.

Angela wanted to squeal all over again, but she squashed it into a very wide smile, "I'm happy for you, Bren, I really am." She hoped that neither one of them ended up getting cold feet and backed out of the situation; if for some unforeseen reason they did, she would make it her mission to get them back together as quickly as possible.

"I am too," Brennan suddenly became engrossed in the latest file and her tone was a little detached as her brow furrowed deeply as she continued to scan the information before her, "This agent lived in the same neighborhood as Elizabeth Thompson," she wasn't sure if it meant anything, but she was sure that Booth would want to know about it.

"Is that important?" Angela hadn't been privy to all of the discussions about the case and so it wasn't immediately obvious to her what this little bit of information meant, but judging from Brennan's demeanor, it looked important.

Brennan didn't say anything; she simply got up from where she had been sitting on the couch with the file in her hand to go find Booth. She didn't have to go far, she nearly collided with him as he walked purposefully back into her office, "I was just coming to find you."

"Missed me, huh, Bones," Booth smiled at her; he wondered if she knew how sexy she was when she was concentrating on something. His ego swelled as he considered that she couldn't go more than a few minutes without him since they'd become an item; it was only natural since he felt the same way.

"This agent lived in Elizabeth Thompson's neighborhood," Brennan didn't bother to answer his question as she showed him what she'd found in the file, she wanted to remain as professional as possible at work and him looking so well formed in that shirt of his was certainly not helping things.

Booth cleared his throat as he took the file from her and scanned the information she had found, his ego sinking just a little bit because she hadn't bit on his inference that she needed him, "This is good work, Bones, this might be the guy that Cullen was telling me she used to carpool with; his story checked out back in 1973, but it would definitely be a good idea to talk to him again."

"What else did Cullen say?" Brennan had noted that Booth had been gone for a long time; long enough for Angela to run out of questions and start over again. She sincerely hoped that they were making some sort of headway on identifying the shooter so that they could get back out in the field and arrest someone.

Booth glanced over to where Angela was sitting on the couch and then back at Bones, "He's been digging into what he knows about Elizabeth Thompson; Cullen was a rookie agent back then so he knew _who_ she was but didn't really have any contact with her. He thinks that what's in the file isn't the entire story; we need some anecdotal information. I mentioned your theory to him and he agreed that it's worth checking into...it would certainly give someone motive."

"What theory?" Angela glanced over at Brennan who was still standing there looking at Booth; for Brennan to have a theory she must have some sort of evidence to support it. As a rule she didn't come to conclusions before looking at all of the evidence, unless of course Booth was rubbing off onto her.

"Maybe she was seeing whoever she was carpooling with," Brennan put the bit of information she'd found together with what Booth had just told her and she offered it up for consideration. It was certainly plausible, but it didn't necessarily mean that there was any evidence to support it or that it was rational without knowing more about this particular agent.

"Cullen said the guy she carpooled with was married with three kids," Booth's tone was momentarily dismissive and then he furrowed his brow and nodded, "A guy like that _would_ have a lot to lose if she threatened to go public; lose his family, maybe even his career." He was going to have to check his notes and see if this agent in the file was the same man who was the carpool buddy.

"What happened to the Watergate theory?" Angela wondered just when the focus on possible political intrigue had stopped and a case of infidelity and cover up had started.

Booth glanced in Angela's direction, "We're just looking at another very plausible angle that probably makes more sense than a White House connection...I'm thinking that anyone connected to Watergate gave it all up during all of the hearings." Unless someone had been very, very careful in the way they'd covered up the evidence and none of the other players had known about them. Deep Throat's identity had certainly remained a secret so it was possible, just not very likely; at least Booth hoped it wasn't very likely.

"Yeah, considering they were willing to go up against a sitting president," Angela nodded in agreement, but still the Watergate angle sounded like a really good plot for Brennan's next novel.

"Of course a Watergate connection would provide a lot more motive to kill four little boys to cover up another murder than a simple affair gone bad," Brennan felt like they hadn't gotten anywhere at all; the evidence they had was ambiguous at best and the reality was that the biggest piece of their puzzle had been missing since 1973; they needed to figure out whatever had become of Elizabeth Thompson. Until they found her body, they were going to have a very difficult time determining what the truth was.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter posted. In short, I have the neighbor's from hell living above me and it has made my writing mojo want to run and hide under the bed with the kitties when they're home thanks to the vulgar behavior and shear lack of common courtesy. Here's to either their eviction or no renewal on their very short lease in this very tight rental market! 


	20. Chapter 20

"I thought you said that Cullen wanted us wrapped up," Brennan looked at Booth with a mixture of suspicion that they really weren't supposed to be leaving the lab and relief that they were finally going to go interview Elizabeth Thompson's former carpool partner, Walter Fitzpatrick. Maybe this might actually provide them with an actual lead on the case other than the bullets that had zipped over their heads into her couch.

"It's 'under wraps', Bones, and Cullen wants this case wrapped up a hell of a lot more than he wants you and I under wraps indefinitely," Booth was probably fudging it a little bit. Cullen did say that he thought it was a good idea that they get in contact with Walter Fitzpatrick, but calling the man on the phone would have been a perfectly acceptable form of communication and so would sending Agent Garcia. Booth was a man of action, however, and since Cullen hadn't specified exactly _how_ he was supposed to accomplish the task he decided that he and Bones would do it.

"But I thought he was concerned about us getting shot at," Brennan wrinkled her nose as she quickened her steps to keep pace with Booth.

"I think he's more concerned about us getting _shot_ than getting shot _at_," Booth clarified; it was a very small technicality and since he was armed he planned on shooting anyone who dared to shoot at his Bones; besides, he knew there were a pair of agents trailing them just in case they needed back up. He was not about to relinquish the reigns of this investigation unless he was forced to do so.

"Either way I don't like it," Brennan rolled her eyes slightly as Booth opened the door of his department issued SUV; she was sure that he knew she was more than capable of opening the door herself, but she was just as sure that his alpha male tendencies acted on impulse in situations like this.

"I don't either," Booth had a serious expression on his face as he took a moment to glance down at her, "But the sooner we solve this case the safer both of us are going to be." He impulsively dipped his head and pressed a soft kiss against her lips; smiling as he pulled away despite how deeply his brow was furrowed, "Just remember I've got your back."

Brennan frowned, "How am I supposed to have _your_ back if you won't let me carry a gun?" It was an issue that was bound to repeat itself as long as they worked together; she was an excellent shot and he knew it, but all because of a small misunderstanding and a flesh wound in the leg of a murderer turned arsonist the FBI would not allow her to carry a weapon.

"I'm your gun, Bones, or did you not hear me when I said that?" Damn the woman could be completely exasperating; if he didn't care about her so much there was no way in hell he would ever work with her.

"What happens if _you_ get shot?" Not that Brennan really wanted to consider that it might actually happen, but given the circumstances they frequently found themselves in it was a perfectly rational possibility, especially since they'd already been shot at and Booth had been warned to drop the case by their mystery caller.

"If _I_ get shot then you can take my gun," Booth rolled his eyes as he gestured for her to get in the vehicle so they could be on their way to interview Walter Fitzpatrick, before closing the door and trotting around to the driver's side and climbing in. If it hadn't been for her being arrested for shooting an unarmed man in the leg, regardless of the fact that the man was a murderer, she would have been able to carry a weapon. Booth was actually relieved that she wasn't allowed to because that meant that he didn't have to worry that she'd shoot first and ask questions later if the suspect still happened to be breathing that is; he didn't question her ability to shoot, however, he did question her ability to read people well enough to know when _not_ to shoot.

"What if Walter Fitzpatrick is the gunman?" Brennan knew that Booth was always careful, but since the man knew they were coming wouldn't that give him ample opportunity to shoot them before they ever made it to the front door?

"He doesn't have any sniper training, Bones," Booth had done a very careful scrutiny of former Agent Fitzpatrick's file before he'd ever made the phone call. The man hadn't gotten very far up the FBI food chain, but he'd been a solid company man with an impeccable service record. Booth was fairly certain that this guy couldn't possibly be behind all of this, a fact that seemed even more certain when he'd found out that Walter Fitzpatrick had retired because he'd developed Parkinson's Disease. In short, even if he'd had sniper training, the unsteadiness of his current condition would disallow the sort of accuracy required to make a decent shot let alone one made by a sniper.

"What about special forces?" In the forefront of her mind she could still imagine the brutality that those four boys had been subjected to as they were executed; she only hoped that they hadn't had to witness each other's deaths.

"Infantry; serve two years in Vietnam and then joined the Bureau," Booth knew that she was trying to gather evidence so she knew what they were getting themselves into, but he'd already done as thorough of a background check as he could. There was no way in hell that Walter Fitzpatrick was their guy.

Brennan lapsed into silence as her thoughts turned to Andy and Ryan Cooper, Brian Foster, and Randy Harrison; no matter how she looked at it she couldn't fathom the mind of someone who was capable of murdering those four boys simply because they had probably witnessed whatever had happened to Elizabeth Thompson. She hoped that Walter Fitzpatrick could offer them some shred of information that might just be enough to find Elizabeth Thompson; or more realistically at this point, her remains.

"Maybe Fitzpatrick knew if she was seeing anyone; I mean they drove to work together everyday, they probably knew at least a little bit about what was going on in each others lives," Booth registered the pensive expression on Bones' face; he knew that this case was hitting her harder than most of the cases they'd worked on together; he reached over and enveloped her hand with his, giving it a squeeze before letting it go again.

"You know we're going to have to remain professional about this, Booth," Brennan appreciated his gesture, and she'd appreciated the kiss before they'd gotten into the SUV, but there had always been a clear line between her work and her personal life; something that had become incredibly muddy in her mind since she'd slept with Booth.

"That _was_ professional, Bones," Booth had a mischievous smirk on his face and he let out a soft laugh as he glanced over and noticed the smile spreading across her face as his implication of what _unprofessional_ might be registered in her mind.

"No making out in my office," Brennan blushed a little; she thought that some clear boundaries might be in order since their attraction to one another was a matter of fact and she valued her professional reputation.

"_I_ wasn't the one who initiated that kiss this morning," Booth let out a smug chuckle that Bones hadn't been able to keep her lips off of him. He cut his chuckle short as Bones shot him a glare. "I'm just saying, Bones, you're pretty assertive," A fact that he'd been rather pleased with while they'd been at his apartment.

"I had a momentary lapse in judgment," Brennan tried to focus her thoughts on the case, not on her sexy partner sitting behind the wheel of the SUV.

"So kissing me was a lapse in judgment," Booth wasn't buying it, especially since she was trying to keep a smile from completely taking over her face.

"Kissing you in my _office_ was a lapse in judgment," Brennan was losing her battle with the smile, "That wasn't exactly how I wanted people to find out about us." She knew that being with Booth was not going to be simple, but not being with him would have been far more difficult.

A cocky grin spread across Booth's face and then he glanced over at winked at Bones, "No making out in my office either."


	21. Chapter 21

"Grandpa, you have company," A clean-cut looking young man who looked to be in his late teens or early twenties had answered the door at the address Booth and Brennan had for Walter Fitzpatrick. If either one of them had any doubts about having ruled out the former FBI agent as a sniper suspect they quickly evaporated when they saw that his Parkinson's had progressed to the point that he had to use a walker just to stand up as they entered the living room. There was no way this man was responsible for shooting at them.

Even as he extended his hand in greeting, the tremors of his disease caused them to shake tremendously, "Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan, please come in and make yourself comfortable." The older gentleman's hair was more salt than pepper these days and it was evident if it hadn't been for his condition he might very well still be working as an agent.

"We don't want to take up too much of your time, sir, but we do have some questions about what you might remember about Elizabeth Thompson," Booth got to the point, he knew that Fitzpatrick as a former agent would probably appreciate not being schmoozed to get information out of him.

"Ah, yes, Elizabeth," There was an almost wistful tone in his voice as if he was remembering someone fondly. Fitzpatrick settled himself in a comfortable chair in his living room and gestured for Booth and Brennan to do the same.

Brennan seemed almost entranced at the movement of the older man's body as if her mind was calculating the effect that his compromised nervous system would have upon his bones over the course of his disease as he had to modify his movement to compensate for his condition. She glanced over at Booth and realized that he had a look that she associated with him honing in on a suspect and so she tried to turn her attention back to what Walter Fitzpatrick was saying.

"We carpooled, but of course you know that or you wouldn't be here," Fitzpatrick still had a mind as sharp as a tack and he was already thinking several steps ahead of Booth and wondering what the infamous Dr. Brennan would add to all of this. Clearly since she was a well known forensic anthropologist they'd either found Elizabeth or they were here about something else entirely.

Brennan's brow furrowed and she spoke before she even considered that maybe Booth had a line of questioning in mind already, "How close were you and Ms Thompson?" There was no way that the pair hadn't gotten to know each other if they'd carpooled from the same neighborhood for several years.

"We were coworkers; friends," Fitzpatrick had a rather weary expression on his face as if just thinking about Elizabeth was causing him pain.

"Do you know if she was seeing anyone when she disappeared?" Booth could tell that the man wasn't telling them everything and right now in the interest of finding out who the hell was shooting at them and who was responsible for the murder of those four boys he was going to push him.

Fitzpatrick glanced into the other room where his grandson was sitting at a computer, "Colin, would you mind going down to the pharmacy to pick up that prescription refill? I'd like to take it with dinner." There was a slightly stern tone in his voice, but his grandson didn't seem to notice.

"Sure, Grandpa, I need to pick up a few things for Uncle Mike anyway," Colin smiled and moved towards what was presumably the back door based on the sound of a door closing followed by a car engine starting up and fading off into the distance.

Booth and Brennan remained silent other than a glance passing between them as they realized that there was obviously something the former FBI agent wanted to say that he didn't want his grandson to hear.

Fitzpatrick seemed to relax a little as his grandson was out of earshot and he gave both Booth and Brennan a look that made it evident that he was cutting through the shit and getting to the point, "Elizabeth and I were close; too close really," His brow furrowed deeply, "If my wife had ever found out about it, I would have lost my family."

Brennan looked a little confused, "How close?"

The older man let out a weary sigh, "She and I were having an affair. I'm not proud of that fact now. My wife didn't deserve to be cheated on; she was a good woman...we were married for thirty-seven years before she passed away from cancer two years ago."

"Did anyone else know about your affair?" Booth made a mental note to kiss Bones senseless later for suggesting that a romantic relationship between Elizabeth Thompson and an agent might be at the center of her disappearance.

"As far as I know, the only person that knew about it was her best friend Lila." He looked pointedly at Booth and Brennan, "Did you find Elizabeth?" The man looked like he'd been waiting to hear something about her fate since she'd disappeared all those years before.

"No, sir, we haven't," Booth was wondering just how much he should share with the man and how much he might have already picked up from watching the news. He surmised that the man had to be hiding under a rock if he didn't know that four sets of remains had been found underneath a house in his own neighborhood.

"We believe that her disappearance may have something to do with a case we're currently working on," Brennan didn't want to reveal too much; that was Booth's department. She glanced in his direction and she saw the edges of his mouth twitch momentarily into the slightest of smiles directed at her.

"The boys from the news?" Fitzpatrick had been a good FBI agent and it didn't take much for him to connect the dots, especially to a crime scene that was in his neighborhood.

"Yes, sir," Booth continued, "We think that whoever was responsible for Elizabeth's disappearance may be responsible for the murders of those four boys." As much as the man sitting before him might have motive, he just didn't fit the profile of who they were looking for.

The color drained out of Walter Fitzpatrick's face and it took him a moment to compose himself, "I remembered when those boys went missing...but I was so focused on trying to figure out what had happened to Elizabeth that I hadn't ever considered that there was any connection." He suddenly looked even older than his years.

"Did you know anyone who might want to harm Elizabeth?" Brennan's voice was soft but insistent. She reasoned that while the man might not seem responsible for the murder, that he might know more than he really thought he did.

"No, I don't think so; she was well liked," Fitzpatrick was thinking like the agent he used to be, "Everyone who had any connection to her was questioned, but she didn't even ride home with me the day she disappeared; she had a meeting that she had to attend that night and she was going to be working late. And when she didn't answer the door the next morning, I just assumed that she had just worked all night."

"But your affair didn't come out in that investigation," Booth seemed to be stating the obvious because if it had come out, it would have been in the file in the first place and Walter Fitzpatrick would have been the prime suspect in her disappearance.

"No, it didn't...things like that are career killers, not to mention marriage killers." Fitzpatrick pursed his lips slightly, "I knew that I wasn't responsible so I wasn't about to unnecessarily throw the spotlight on myself."

"So are you saying that you withheld evidence?" Brennan didn't look too pleased with the man now; it was one thing to have poor judgment and cheat on your spouse, but to cover up what could have been key evidence in a possible murder investigation seemed to her to be inexcusable.

"I didn't withhold evidence, I just didn't give them more information than they asked for," Fitzpatrick wasn't looking for an easy out, he wanted to find out who was responsible for his former lover's probable murder and more than that he wanted this weight that he'd been carrying around with him to finally be pulled off of his shoulders.

"Isn't that the same thing?" Brennan considered that if he had something potentially relevant on a case that involved a woman who he obviously cared about enough to sleep with her then perhaps he should have volunteered it.

Booth interjected to steer the conversation away from the rabbit trail he was sure it was heading down and tried to focus back on the facts he needed to pursue the investigation a little further, "You said that the only person you were aware of that knew about the affair was a woman named Lila?" he wanted to make sure that he had his facts straight.

Fitzpatrick had that slightly wistful look again as if he wasn't quite telling them everything, "Yes, Lila Montgomery, she worked at the Bureau too, but she left about a year after Elizabeth disappeared. The last I'd heard she was living up near Baltimore."

**To Be Continued...**

**Author's Note:** I hope you're enjoying the ride; I finally came up for air after watching all of Season 2 on DVD (you've got to love the gag reel...and the kiss). Rest assured, I have the entire mystery plot planned out and I'm sure that you'll be happy to know that there will undoubtedly be more fluffy Booth and Brennan moments to come. But don't get too comfortable because you just don't know what's coming next.


	22. Chapter 22

"I don't think he told us everything he knows," Brennan commented with a hint of mirth in her voice as she fastened her seatbelt and glanced over at Booth, taking note of the determined expression on his face.

"I'm _sure_ he didn't; that's why _we're_ going to check out Lila Montgomery," Booth put the key in the ignition and glanced over at Bones, "He almost implied that if anyone knew about the affair he was having with Elizabeth Thompson that Lila Montgomery was the one who told them, and quite honestly, I think he knows who that is."

"So you're saying that he knows who the murderer is?" Brennan was slightly confused, she wasn't sure how Booth had made that leap based on the conversation that they'd just had with Walter Fitzpatrick. "If he knows who it is, why don't you arrest him?"

"We don't have anything we can arrest him for," Booth would love nothing more than to grill Fitzpatrick a little more closely, but there was nothing they'd uncovered so far other than the affair that he'd admitted to that would make him a suspect. Booth had familiarized himself with the files from Elizabeth Thompson's missing person's case and everything that Fitzpatrick had told them lined up with what was in the file. He was clearly not involved in her disappearance; at least not directly and so it was going to take a little more digging and perhaps some thinking outside the box to track down who might know more about what had happened in that house in Georgetown in 1973.

"But can't you force him to talk?" Brennan knew that Booth knew how to get things out of suspects that they generally did not want anyone to know; he was skilled in the area of applied criminal psychology and this would be an ideal time to put that skill to use.

"He used to be an agent, Bones; he knows how this works. We're better off checking out Lila Montgomery and seeing where that leads before we haul him down to interrogate him. I'd like to think that he wouldn't lie to the FBI," Booth thought that the man was being straight with him; despite his poor judgment in cheating on his wife, the guy had an unblemished service record.

"He wasn't exactly honest in keeping his affair a secret when she disappeared," Walter Fitzpatrick had rubbed Brennan the wrong way. He was supposed to stand for the truth and yet he'd lied to his own family.

"Technically, he didn't lie...he just didn't tell the entire truth," Booth knew he was probably rationalizing for the man, but Fitzpatrick hadn't done anything illegal, just immoral.

Brennan's brow furrowed, "Have you ever technically _not_ lied?" Her insecurity was rearing its ugly head, but it was something she couldn't quite help. Emotional attachments were extremely difficult for her and she had never had a relationship with anyone that was like her relationship with Booth; adding the physical element to it had certainly brought a completely new level to it, and it scared the hell out of her.

Booth knew he couldn't evade her question no matter how much he wanted to; he could read the tone in her voice and she was asking about much more than if he'd simply omitted information simply because someone hadn't asked for it, "Yes, I didn't tell you about my relationship with Cam; you figured that out on your own."

"Why did you feel the need to keep it a secret in the first place? I didn't hide my relationship with Sully from you," Brennan trusted him more than she trusted anyone else; time and time again he's proven that he could be trusted because he'd been there for her when no one else had; when she hadn't realized that she'd needed him until he was saving her life.

Booth wanted to say that he wished he hadn't known about her relationship with Sully; but then that had been the catalyst that had made him realize how deeply his feelings for her ran, "Cam didn't want anyone to know about it...I didn't see a need to hide it, but honestly, Bones, what I had with Cam was over long before we ever tried to revive it."

"So it was just biological in nature then?" Brennan wasn't sure why she needed to know what his relationship with Cam was per se except that maybe she waned to make sure that there was no chance that it would ever resurface, that would just be far too awkward.

"Something like that," They were headed down Pennsylvania Avenue towards downtown and the Jeffersonian, Booth realized that she was doing what he should have expected she would do. She was scared and she was going to find any reason to rationalize some excuse to back off from him romantically, just like she had with Sully. That thought caused his heart to lurch in his chest and suddenly he felt like they needed to talk.

"You do realize that Angela's probably told everyone at the Jeffersonian that something happened between you and I," There was a tone in her voice that held hope and fear all at the same time as if she was walking a fine line wondering if he truly wanted to be with her like he said he did, or if he would wake up one day and find that they'd both just been satisfying some urge and their friendship had just clouded things.

"Well I'd be surprised if she _hadn't_ told everyone," Booth let out an amused snort as spotted a vacant spot against the curb and he quickly pulled the SUV over and put it into park before killing the engine.

"Why are we stopping," Brennan's face registered confusion; there was still someone out there wanting to shoot them and they had a case to work, he hadn't said anything about stopping on the way back to the lab.

Booth unfastened his seatbelt and turned to face her, "Because I think you need to know how I feel about you, Bones," He reached out and gently touched her cheek, "You're not Cam and I'm not with you simply because I have some biological urge that I need to fulfill with you. I'm with you because you're my Bones and I care about you." He leaned over and softly brushed his lips against hers. He hoped that she could feel the intense longing that he felt for her in that kiss and that she would just allow herself to stop thinking so much and just follow her heart.

At least for the moment, Brennan let herself melt into Booth's kiss; she had needed his reassurance and while it scared her that he seemed to know what she was thinking at times, the swirl of butterflies in her stomach at the simplicity of sharing a kiss made it intoxicating.

As he pulled back a moment later, he let his face linger near hers, "What I have with you, I've never had with anyone else, Bones. Don't ever doubt that, ok?" He looked into her blue eyes and felt the need to lean in for another kiss as she simply nodded her agreement.

Several long slow kisses later, Brennan pulled back with a soft smile on her face, "As much as I'm enjoying this, we really should get back to the case." Her fears had abated for the moment and she was wondering in the back of her mind if she shouldn't just amend her earlier statement about how they couldn't make out in her office. Kissing Seeley Booth seemed to have a soothing effect on her and in the midst of a case as stressful as this one was, his lips could come in rather handy.


	23. Chapter 23

"So you're telling me that Walter Fitzpatrick withheld key information in a possible murder investigation when he was still employed by the Bureau," Cullen did not look pleased at this particular revelation; if a guy like Fitzpatrick had been under his purview and had pulled this kind of stunt he would have made sure that he pulled permanent desk duty in some out of the way place in the middle of Nebraska if he didn't fire his ass first and charge him with obstruction of justice.

"Yes, sir, that's correct," Given the reaction that Cullen had to the news about Walter Fitzpatrick's secret, he wasn't so sure that now was a good time to reveal that the nature of his relationship with Dr. Brennan had changed. Booth glanced over at Bones and he could tell that she was in complete agreement with him that Cullen needed to be eased into the topic, if or when it ever came up.

"That's just great," Cullen let out a sort of growl and then leaned over on his elbows as he surveyed the pair before him, "So you have Garcia pulling a background check on this Lila Montgomery and what else?" He knew that the families of the boys had been contacted by other agents who worked cold cases; he wanted Booth and Dr. Brennan to stay focused on this case and stay focused on not getting hit by flying bullets.

"Just the video surveillance tapes from the Cost-Mart in Alexandria. We have some of Dr. Brennan's colleagues working on the images to see if they can isolate the face of the individual that purchased the disposable cell phone," Booth recounted in his mind that he sure as hell hoped that Angela could get something that the FBI lab had not been able to; from what he understood, the tape was grainy as hell.

Cullen's face relaxed somewhat as he sat back in his chair, his fingers bridged together as he let out a sigh, "So no more calls then." He thought that perhaps if they could put a tap on Booth's phone they might be able to analyze the voice distortion, but on a cell phone that would be difficult at best.

"No, sir," Booth's brow furrowed a bit; this overview of the investigation was not exactly a bright spot on his day. They needed some hard evidence or they were just going to be sitting at a standstill until the shooter tried to shoot at them again.

"Who knows that we're investigating this case?" Brennan couldn't help but interject; she had no problem working a case, but she didn't like being told where she could go and when she could go there just because someone was intent on shooting either her or Booth.

Both Cullen and Booth turned to look at her to see what she had to say.

"I'm assuming since the caller inferred that they don't want us investigating the case that they know more about the case than we do; no one but the person in records management knew that Booth had checked out those files about Elizabeth Thompson's missing persons case because he remembered that she disappeared around the same time and in the same neighborhood as those four boys, and unless someone was following us, how did they know we were working at my apartment so they could shoot at us?" Brennan had been mulling this over and over in her mind trying to find the missing piece that would make it all suddenly clear; it all kept leading right back to the door of the FBI.

"Dr. Brennan, you have a very valid point," Cullen glanced over at Booth and raised both of his eyebrows as if he expected his agent to address this very line of reason.

"Yes, sir, and Dr. Brennan and I have discussed this at length, however, other than Michelle down in records, who we've done a thorough background check on since the shooting, we don't have anything," Booth looked a little defeated and he hated being in that position.

"And _who_ did the background check?" Cullen had a thoughtful expression on his face as he considered that someone inside of his FBI was leaking information that was not only endangering an investigation, but was actively trying to endanger one of his best agents and a squint who had helped put a number of high profile bad guys behind bars.

"Garcia initiated the request, sir," Booth was beginning to see that perhaps using the regular channels in this particular investigation was going to be horribly flawed.

"But he didn't actually do the background check himself, did he?" Cullen's mind was shifting into high gear.

"Probably not, sir," Booth realized that he and Garcia had been following protocol, but by following that protocol it had ensured that whomever was behind this knew their every move and it had allowed him to put Bones in danger and that was something that he wasn't sure he could forgive himself for.

"So you have a rat in the FBI," Brennan concluded; this was definitely _not_ a good thing.

"It's 'mole', Bones, and yes, it appears that way," Booth's face was clouded with frustration. If he found out who was leaking information they'd sure as hell better know how to outrun his gun.

Cullen pursed his lips together and surveyed the pair before him before leaning forward and resting his forearms against his desk again, "Ok, this is how we're going to play this out from now on. You report only to me; leave Garcia out of it until I find out who he's been delegating to."

"Do you think Agent Garcia could be the leak?" Brennan had met the man and her first impression was that he was standard issue FBI; but then again, she wasn't sure that she was best judge of people considering her personal track record with men.

"Garcia's a stand up guy, Bones," Booth's gut feeling was that Garcia was simply doing his job and someone else was taking full advantage of that. Still he'd probably say that about almost anyone he'd worked with, so logically it really _could_ be Garcia.

"I would tend to agree with Booth about Garcia, Dr. Brennan, but the less people involved in this until we know something definitive the better," Cullen could tell that he was going to have a bad day; when the deputy director had to go and investigate his own people it was bound to put him in one hell of a bad mood.

"What about the squints?" Booth knew this question wasn't going to make Bones very happy, but considering that someone on the case was leaking information and a very old set of bones had been stolen from the Jeffersonian not that long ago to salt a shaft, there were definitely potential suspects who could be bought off to pass information along.

"Booth!" Brennan's brow was furrowed in irritation at the mere thought of an accusation; she knew her people and she knew that none of them was capable of something like this; they wouldn't even know the significance of the information to be able to pass it along.

"Dr. Brennan, we're going to look at everyone who has had any contact with pieces of evidence or files; in the interest of being thorough, Booth has a point." Cullen could tell that there would be no small amount of bickering about this once they left his office and he was thinking that it might just be about time to dismiss them so he wouldn't have to listen to it.

"Thank you, sir," Booth felt his chest puff out just a little in satisfaction that it wasn't just _his_ FBI that was being scrutinized.

"Well what do we do now?" There was a very small hint of a whine in Brennan's voice that indicated that her patience was wearing very thin and the lack of evidence was starting to piss her off.

"I would suggest that you and Agent Booth go back to your lab and see if you can find anything on the video surveillance tapes," Cullen's smile was tepid at best and he felt the beginning of a headache coming on. He shot Booth a look, "I'll call you when the information about Lila Montgomery comes in."

"Thank you, sir," Booth clearly felt dismissed and he stood, glancing over at Bones for her to follow his lead. They didn't say anything as they left Cullen's office, but Booth knew what was coming. They were almost to his SUV when he heard the petulance in her voice.

"Booth, that wasn't fair; you know as well as I do that no one at the Jeffersonian had access to the information that would provide the motive to shoot at us," Brennan's eyes pleaded with him to understand that him even bringing it up felt like a sting.

"Bones, Cullen is my boss. What he says, I do. If he wants to look at the Jeffersonian, then he'll look at the Jeffersonian. I can't argue with the boss, Bones," There was a mischievous glint in Booth's eyes as if he knew something she didn't.

"I think his time would be better spent investigating the FBI than a bunch of scientists who are simply trying to aid his investigation," Brennan gestured with her hands to make her point.

"_Our_ investigation, Bones, it's _our_ investigation," Booth wanted to clarify as he opened the door of the vehicle for her to get in; smirking as she stubbornly faced him with her arms crossed instead.

"Well you're acting like _I'm_ a suspect," Brennan knew she was probably being unreasonable, but she really didn't understand what was going on here.

"No, I'm not," Booth smirked; she was an extremely sexy squint when she was all worked up like this, but definitely not a suspect.

"Well what do you call it then?" Brennan wasn't sure she wanted to stay with Booth tonight if he was going to be like this no matter who was shooting at them.

"Who else has access to all of the information besides you and me?" Booth raised a single eyebrow at her until the realization of what he was implying began to dawn on her face.

"Cullen," Brennan didn't want to think that Booth's boss could be responsible for the leaks, but he might have unwittingly given out information by following the rules just like he'd suggested that Garcia had.

"Yeah, Cullen," Booth gestured for her to get in the SUV; they could talk more about this possibility on the way back to the Jeffersonian where he fully intended to find some private quiet location that wasn't her office to kiss her for being so damn sexy.


	24. Chapter 24

"Do you think that Cullen could really be responsible?" Brennan looked at Booth expectantly as they walked through the parking structure towards the Jeffersonian. They had been talking about all of the details of the case that had been relayed to Cullen and it seemed that he knew as much as they did and given his position, probably knew more.

"I don't know, Bones; I sure as hell hope not. I like Cullen, he seems like a good man; I don't want to think about the possibility of him being dirty," Truth was the idea of another crooked cop near the top at the FBI nearly back to back didn't set well with Booth. He wanted to believe that Cullen had all of the integrity that he'd always thought he'd had.

"But you're already thinking about it," Brennan thought it was a rational argument that Cullen possessed all of the skill required to commit the crimes as well as take shots at she and Booth; however, given what she knew about the man's character, it didn't fit. She was learning that just because someone could have done something based on their training alone didn't mean that they were actually capable of it; Booth was a very good example of that. There was no way she could ever envision Booth turning his back on doing the right thing.

"It just doesn't fit thought, Bones; unless I don't know Cullen as well as I think I do, and I'm good with people," There was a hint of doubt in Booth's voice that showed his insecurity about not being in control of this situation that sort of seeped out of every pore.

"You're very good with people," Brennan was simply stating the truth, the fact that it seemed to be the right thing to say and had a calming effect on Booth was a nice secondary result.

"You're better with people than you think," Booth couldn't help but smile at her and his thoughts again drifted to the fact that he wanted to kiss her; long and slow with no interruptions somewhere they could be alone for a while. Since she had designated her office as being off limits for making out, he thought maybe he might try and push his luck a little and find some other part of the Jeffersonian that didn't fit that category.

However, Brennan seemed intent on reaching her office and as they breezed past the lab platform and into her office, Angela seemed to be all smiles and given the expressions on Zach and Hodgins' faces word had gotten around about the change in her and Booth's relationship. "We should probably see if Angela's gotten anywhere with that video footage the FBI sent over."

Booth plopped himself down on her office sofa and stretched his arms out across the back of it; he watched as Bones seemed to switch into some sort of lab mode; as she pulled on her lab coat, he waggled his eyebrows at her, "Do you have any idea how hot you look in that coat?"

Brennan glanced up but didn't quite get the full effect of his flirtation at first, "It's not really that warm; why, do I look like I'm hot?" As the words left her mouth she realized what Booth's real intent was and her laugh seemed to swallow her smile as she moved over towards him, "I stepped right on that one, didn't I?"

As she sank down next to him, her body angled towards his as she looked into his eyes with no reservations, Booth smirked, "It's walked into it, Bones, but yes, you did walk right into that one." He knew that she didn't want him kissing her in her office, but with her that close and her lips looking as if they were begging to be kissed, he couldn't resist. He quickly leaned in and pressed his lips against hers before she could muster a protest and given her reaction, she didn't seem to mind at all.

Brennan had been thinking about how much she wanted to kiss Booth since he'd pulled back into traffic after their brief stop on Pennsylvania Avenue earlier. She gladly gave in to the indulgence of Booth's kiss for a few moments; this _was_ her office and she couldn't come up with any rational reason _not_ to kiss him given that she was almost certain that Angela had informed most of the free world of the change in her relationship with Booth.

Booth pulled back after a few moments, his fingers toying with her hair as he looked at her a bit skeptically, "I was pretty sure you said we couldn't do that here." He was almost expecting her to get flustered or push him away.

Brennan simply reached over and smoothed his tie, "I seem to be able to focus better when I let you kiss me," She wasn't going to go all out and admit to him that she needed him; she was after all a strong, intelligent, independent woman who could take care of herself. Having Booth around just seemed to enhance that.

"Hmm, well, I wonder if you could focus even better if we...," He smirked at her purposely trying to see if he could embarrass her; he certainly didn't expect her response.

Brennan's voice sounded sexy, "There are other places around here that are a lot more private." She let him think about that one for just a moment as she tugged him toward her with his tie before she leaned in for another kiss.

Between kisses, Booth mumbled against her lips, "Private. I like the sound of private." The last thing he wanted was getting a little too carried away in her office and giving all of the squints a real peep show on how things should really be done.

Brennan mumbled against his mouth, "Angela says that the storage locker is private," Another long kiss silenced her for the moment. "She and Hodgins have sex in there during lunch."

For some reason that image in his mind while he was trying to kiss Bones killed the mood for Booth; he pulled back and looked at her with a furrowed brow, "And just where else have the two of them done the horizontal mambo?" He glanced down at the couch they were sitting on and then over at Bones' desk curious if Angela had told her _all_ of the places in the lab that she and Hodgins had done the nasty. He'd heard plenty from Cam about how the pair seemed to 'hump like rabbits'; just the thought seemed to scar his brain.

Brennan wanted another kiss, "Cleopatra's bed I think...we could go there if you want." She pressed her lips against Booth's and was disappointed that it took a moment before he returned the kiss. It was just long enough for her to pull back, eyes wide, breathing heavily and wondering if she'd said the wrong thing.

"How private is it really if everyone seems to know about it?" Booth looked at her doubtfully; he did not want their relationship reduced to lab gossip no matter how tempting it was to take her up on her suggestion. Besides that they still had a case they were supposed to be working on and questions about whether Cullen might be involved still swirled around them.

"Not everyone knows about it, just Angela and Hodgins." Brennan smiled at him enticingly; this was all still so new between her and Booth and she didn't want to do something that might disappoint him and make him change his mind about her. Now that she'd taken that leap across the proverbial line between them, she wasn't interested in going back to the other side.

Booth let out a soft chuckle before leaning in and whispering conspiratorially, "If they know about it then it's two too many...I don't want to run the risk that someone will walk in on us," He looked into her eyes, his expression turning a bit more serious, "I want to keep that part of us all to ourselves where we don't have to feel like we're sneaking around, Bones. You're special to me...I want you to feel special."

Before they could continue their conversation or their make out session, Angela popped her head in and interrupted with a rather pleased smile on her face, "As much as I hate to interrupt you two love birds, I got a face off of that video footage."

_**To Be Continued...**_


	25. Chapter 25

"Well that sure as hell isn't Walter Fitzpatrick," Booth snortled out; he wasn't sure if he was hoping that it was the former FBI agent on the Cost-Mart surveillance tape or if he was relieved that it wasn't, but either way the person on the video was definitely far too young to be either Walter Fitzpatrick or a military trained sharpshooter.

"Well that's your guy," Angela gestured towards the computer screen where she'd isolated the image that matched the time stamp and register that the disposable cell phone had been purchased at. The resolution was still pretty grainy and she hoped to clean it up a little more, or at least utilize the Angelator to recreate what the face looked like based on the bone structure.

"It's not unusual for teenagers to buy a disposable cell phone like that is it?" Brennan considered that someone that young might be purchasing it for themselves, especially if they had parents that didn't want to pay the bill; those pay as you go phones were made for something just like that.

"Or maybe he's buying it for someone else; someone who didn't want to be on camera." Booth's mind was hurtling along at a kazillion miles an hour as he considered all of the scenarios that he'd encountered over the course of his career that had used someone under age to keep themselves from getting caught. Bastards like that knew that a kid didn't serve much time at all if they got caught and in this case, the boy had done nothing illegal in purchasing the phone. Or course they were going to have to see if they could find out who he was so they could ask him some very pointed questions about how that particular phone had been used to place calls to threaten a federal agent.

"I should have something a little clearer to look at after I run it through the Angelator," Of course her timescale on that was undefined but she was going to make it happen as soon as humanly possible.

"Thanks, Angela," Booth was genuinely grateful for her efforts so far; he might work for the FBI, but the Jeffersonian still had more technologically advanced equipment in some areas and her Angelator was one of a kind.

"Sorry I had to break you two out of your lip lock," Angela's face was adorned with a rather indulgent smile and she didn't bother to look over at either Booth or Brennan; the fact that both Hodgins and Zach were standing right there and had doubted her story that Dr. Brennan and Agent hot stuff had finally found a way to combust themselves was about to earn her a little extra cash because of their need to see hard core evidence. Why the boys had doubted her in the first place was rather amusing, but Zach's little empiricist heart wouldn't believe until he'd seen evidence of it and she got the impression that Hodgins just wanted a reason to pick a fight so they could spend some quality time making up later.

Booth cleared his throat; he really didn't like his love life to be the center of the squints' attention, and really he should have prepared himself for this, but somehow now that he was there it was far more intimidating than facing Cullen after screwing up.

"So it's true then," Zach registered a hint of disbelief as he looked at Booth first and then Dr. Brennan, "Angela said that you were sleeping together." He hadn't witnessed a kiss between them himself, but given the physiological responses to Angela's comment in each of their faces and no vehement denial that said kiss had actually occurred, he concluded that she was in fact correct about the change in their relationship.

"Thanks, Angela," Booth didn't sound very grateful, but then again he knew that it was bound to happen. He glanced over at Bones and smiled at her; she didn't look uncomfortable at all and maybe because of that he felt himself relaxing and a satisfied smile spreading across his face. Yes, she was _his_ Bones and he was her whatever she wanted to call him; she had no desire to hide the fact that they were together and suddenly it made him want to kiss her all over again. However, he was going to have to practice some restraint because he was still an FBI agent hot on the trail, well, hopefully hot on the trail of a serial killer and she was his favorite forensic anthropologist.

"So, dude, either of you going to tell us how this happened?" Hodgins glanced at both of them and immediately registered from the looks he got in return that any details he was going to hear about were going to come from what Angela had managed to extract out of Dr. Brennan.

"I'm not sure why you're surprised, according to Angela, Booth and I have been dancing around each other for over two years...apparently she thinks it was only a matter of time," Brennan wasn't sure she could see how Angela could make the case for her wanting to be with Booth for that long; she could barely stand him when they'd first started working together. Somehow though he'd managed to work his way under her skin until she felt like she really couldn't get along without him; that was probably the real reason she hadn't sailed off into the sunset with Sully.

"It was only a matter of time, and you two weren't just dancing, you were doing freaking acrobatics around each other; you really should get some sort of medal for it...if it wasn't so ridiculous that is," Angela was clearly glad that her favorite non-couple had finally become a real couple.

"We weren't dancing around each other...we were just..." Booth's words failed him as he fumbled for a response.

"Admit it, Seeley, you wanted Bren from the moment you saw her," Angela reasoned that as long as all of them were stupid enough to stand there and watch her work, she was going to take full advantage of it and put on a full court press to get more information.

"Booth was seeing Tessa when we started working together; obviously, Angela, he didn't want me then," Brennan didn't see Angela's line of thinking as being rational at all. She had felt something when she'd first met Booth, but as soon as she learned about Tessa, she concluded that she'd misread him and had instead decided that he was just very good with people.

Booth looked uncomfortable; if he was being honest with himself and everyone else staring at him just then he'd have to admit that Angela was completely correct. There had just been something about Bones that had unsettled him from the get go. Maybe it was because she hadn't immediately responded to his wit and his devastatingly good looks the way other women did. She was a sort of enigma and the more he'd gotten to know her the more he valued the friendship that they'd forged and he didn't want to do anything to screw it up. Now though, they'd stepped over that line he was so freaking glad that they had. His lips twitched into a smile, "Its all water under the bridge now; Bones and I are together." He leveled his best stern FBI gaze at all of the squints, "And if any of you even think about spying on us for some cheap thrill, I'll shoot you."

Both Zach and Hodgins took a step back. Angela tried to stifle a laugh with a smile.

Brennan crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Booth with a stern look of her own, "I'm sure there won't be any spying so there won't be any reason to shoot anyone." She was slightly tempted to lean over and kiss him, but the sight of Cam coming their direction caused her to hesitate.

"What do we have people?," Cam had gotten a call from Cullen himself letting her know that he was personally going to be reviewing the personnel files of everyone who had touched any piece of evidence in their current case because of a breach of information that he and Booth were trying to stop up and it wasn't making her happy at all.

"Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth are sleeping together," Zach said the first thing that came to his mind; Dr. Saroyan had a way of making him nervous despite the fact that he'd worked with her for over a year since she'd taken over the reigns of the forensics department at the Jeffersonian.

Surprise registered on Cam's face for just a moment, "About the case." She really shouldn't have been surprised at all, when she and Seeley had been seeing each other she got the very clear impression that any woman was always going to come in second place to Dr. Brennan whether Booth wanted to admit it or not.

"A face," Angela responded to Cam's question, "I'm just trying to get clarification so we can make an ID."

"Well what is everyone else standing around for?" Cam wanted answers and as long as people were standing around, it was going to be very difficult to get them. And with the FBI breathing down her neck now she was even more anxious than usual.


	26. Chapter 26

If Cam was surprised at the revelation that Booth and Dr. Brennan had become an item, she wasn't showing it; she was after all a girl from the Bronx and tough as hell. There was a part of her that had long since realized that the reason things hadn't worked out between her and Seeley was because whether he would have been willing to admit it at the time or not, he cared more about Dr. Brennan than just about anyone else, with the exception of Parker. The number of times Booth had dropped everything for the good doctor while they'd been either in the middle of a date or just having a discussion around the lab had underscored that to her; there was no way she would have ever had first place in Seeley Booth's heart even if she still had feelings for him. She offered Booth a genuine smile before she turned her attention to what Angela was working on, "So how long until you think you can do something with the face?"

Of course that was the question on everyone's minds including Angela herself, "Well, despite the impression that I'm a miracle worker, it's going to take however long it's going to take; rendering video isn't a precise science." Angela couldn't give a formula or some sort of quantum physics calculation that would tell them exactly when she was done. That was something she'd expect more out of Hodgins or Zach or one of the other even more geeky squints around the lab.

"Ok, well keep me informed," Cam glanced over at Hodgins and Zach, "And what are you two contributing to the case?" She suspected that Hodgins at this particular moment was more interested in just being in the same room with Angela rather than having any actual work to do in her.

Zach's mouth moved in a fish-like pattern, opening and closing repeatedly as he tried to find his words, "Uh, nothing." He only wished that Dr. Saroyan didn't intimidate him so much; or perhaps it had something to do with her facial symmetry and her well proportioned form that he found distracting when she asked him direct questions.

Cam raised an eyebrow in Hodgins' direction and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Just waiting for some results on a test I ran," It was evasive, but Hodgins was a little distracted by that thing that Angela was doing to his leg with her foot just then and it was the best he could come up with considering the circumstances.

"Well let's go then," Cam seemed to usher the pair of squints out just ahead of her; as much as she could understand how everyone wanted to watch the latest development in the case unfurl itself, she had a lab to run and it wouldn't continue to be efficient if people just stood around flirting while there was evidence to process.

Booth chimed in as the trio left, "No pressure or anything, Angela, but this might be our only chance to get this guy." Maybe it was unfair, but he didn't like having the bad guys out there on the street where they wanted to hurt people; especially when those people were him and Bones.

"I'm doing my best, hot stuff," Angela smirked at him, "Maybe you and Bren can get back to what I interrupted until I'm finished here." She was sure that they would do the exact opposite and actually find some work to do.

Brennan chose to ignore Angela's implication; having Cam probably still within earshot somehow made her feel a bit self conscious about the fact that she'd made out with Booth in her office not that long ago. She turned to the man in question and quirked an eyebrow, "Did anyone pull the records for all calls made to and from that cell number?" It occurred to her that while they knew that the calls to Booth had originated from the disposable cell phone, she wasn't aware if there had been any other calls made that might help them narrow down a suspect based on who they had called.

Booth looked at Bones with an incredulous expression on his face and then a slight twitch at the corners of his mouth turned into a smile, "I'm not sure, Garcia was supposed to be on that." And once again a legitimate question as to whether Garcia was somehow the source of the leak was brought to the forefront. "Why don't we go in your office and I'll give Cullen a call?" It wasn't really even a suggestion, more of a reminder that Cullen didn't want anyone outside of the three of them to discuss more details about the case and if Garcia hadn't pulled all of the records on that phone number then it would certainly implicate that maybe he was even actively involved in leaking information.

"Yes, why don't you two lovebirds move along and I'll let you know when I'm finished here," Angela couldn't resist one last little dig; she only hoped that they took advantage of the privacy; with the amount of time they'd wasted being in denial she certainly wouldn't begrudge them the need to make up for lost time.

"We're working the case, Angela," Booth tossed over his shoulder as his hand instinctively came to rest at the small of Bones' back and he began to propel her out of the room and toward her own office. It wasn't that he didn't trust the squints per se, he was just following orders and truth be told he preferred working the case with Bones by himself.

Brennan was considering whether there was a plausible argument for either Garcia or Cullen to withhold the information; of course even with a warrant it was her understanding that things often like phone records took longer to extract out of service providers, perhaps he just hadn't gotten it quite yet. As they walked into her office, Booth was already punching in Cullen's number.

"It's Booth, sir," Booth was about to launch into his query about the phone records for the disposable cell phone when he let out a soft chuckle, "More like an FBI mind meld; not really into that whole Star Trek Vulcan thing." If Booth thought Cullen had been about to call him so he could hear him make wise cracks under his breath he was mistaken; his expression quickly became very sober as he listened. "You're sure it's Lila Montgomery?"

"Did they find her?" Brennan's ears had perked up as soon as she'd seen the change in Booth's demeanor and she wanted to know what he and Cullen were talking about.

Booth nodded and then furrowed his brow at her to hold on so he could finish the call, "Do you know if Garcia was able to pull the cell phone records before he went up there?" Clearly Booth looked disturbed by what he was hearing and he glanced over at Bones, "No, sir, I have no plans to let her out of my sight."

Brennan rolled her eyes a bit at the alpha male tone in his voice; given the recent turn of events in their relationship she minded his insistence to protect her a little less, but she still recoiled against it because she felt like she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. As Booth ended his call she looked at him expectantly, "What did he say, Booth?"

Booth took a deep breath, "Lila Montgomery is dead." He was still trying to wrap his mind around all of the implications of this new bit of information, especially when he coupled it with the rest of what Cullen had told him. "Garcia went up to interview her before Cullen had a chance to pull him back from the case and when he got there he saw her lying in a pool of her own blood through the window...he made a call for back up and went in to see if she was still alive. When the other agents got there, they found him dead too."

There was just something about all of this that made Brennan want to solve this case even more than she had before, "Did he say how they were killed?"

Booth nodded gravely only slightly relieved that two people had just been removed from their list of suspects, "Both of them were slashed across the throat."


	27. Chapter 27

"Well obviously someone knew that we wanted to talk to Lila Montgomery," Brennan reasoned. Of course with one of the few people that knew that little tidbit of information turning up dead; that turned even more speculation on the possibility of Cullen's involvement in at least orchestrating it. She furrowed her brow; if it turned out that Cullen was involved, then that was going to seriously complicate things.

"Well, Garcia's dead. I didn't really want to believe he was involved anyway; the guy has two kids about Parker's age," Booth looked disturbed at the thought that those children no longer had a father and he began to pace back and forth in Brennan's office as he tried to think this through. "Unless Cullen was the killer in the first place back in 1973, he doesn't have motive." He didn't want to think that his boss could be guilty anyway; guilty FBI agents should be pompous assholes like Deputy Director Kirby who got the street justice he deserved when Max Keenan killed him. Not that Booth had shirked his duty to his country by letting Bones' dad get away with it; even if Kirby hadn't upheld the law Booth was not a man who applied the law indiscriminately.

"Maybe he didn't have the opportunity either…you've said to me before that even if someone has the means and the motive, if they don't have the opportunity they can't be guilty," In an effort to understand how Booth's mind worked, Brennan had hung onto just about everything he'd said about investigating crimes and filtered it through her rational mind for safe keeping.

Booth grinned at her as he stopped pacing, "You're a genius, Bones!" He impulsively cupped her face and pulled her in for a soft lingering kiss. As he pulled away, he grinned again, "If I can verify where Cullen was around the time Elizabeth Thompson disappeared and when we think the boys were murdered then we can eliminate him as a possible suspect." He was so thrilled with the prospect that he might not have to watch his back quite as diligently around his boss as he'd thought that he momentarily lost sight of the fact that they were basically back to square one.

Brennan smirked at him as she tried to keep her eyes off of his lips; they were far too tempting, "Well the only person who knew about Lila Montgomery was…"

Booth nodded and chimed in as they spoke in unison, "Walter Fitzpatrick." Symbiosis was in full swing and for that Booth was grateful; he might be entertaining doubts about his boss, but he knew that he could fully trust Bones.

Brennan pursed her lips thoughtfully, "What about the person on the video footage? That certainly wasn't Walter Fitzpatrick." She knew that in his present state Fitzpatrick could never have held a rifle steady enough to pull off the kind of shot that a sniper could make; the shot at her and Booth had been intended to just miss them. Someone with hands that trembled as much as the former FBI agent's did wasn't capable of such a thing.

"But it could have been his grandson," A realization dawn on Booth that if Fitzpatrick was involved, sending his grandson out to run an innocuous errand like filling a prescription was a perfect cover to give him a head start to drive up to Baltimore and kill Lila Montgomery. Even so, Booth had his doubts; the young man looked far more like a squint than a sharpshooter.

"But you said that Fitzpatrick didn't have the training to have been capable of killing the boys based on how the evidence suggests they were killed," Brennan knew that this was leading them nowhere but in a circle and she didn't like it at all. "It _he_ didn't kill them and he wasn't responsible for Elizabeth Thompson's disappearance, then it isn't rational to think that he's behind whoever is shooting at us. And it doesn't make sense that his grandson would be involved unless he's involved."

Booth let out a frustrated sigh; as much as he didn't want to admit it, she was right, "If Fitzpatrick _wasn't_ responsible; I'm still not sure he didn't at least know about it." He wanted to be able to pin this all on Walter Fitzpatrick and nicely tie up this case and file it away so that he wouldn't have to worry about bullets zipping towards Bones, but murder cases assigned to the FBI were generally never that simple and when they were dealing with a serial killer, that just complicated things further.

"What did Cullen say about the phone records?" Brennan realized that this was really their only tangible lead at the moment that had any immediate potential.

"Uh, yeah, he said he wasn't sure; Garcia hadn't reported anything back about it. Cullen was going to follow it up and find out who was pulling the records," Booth was starting to feel a little caged and he began pacing back and forth again. He wanted nothing more than to go haul in anyone with even the thinnest connection to anything to do with the case and question them until they confessed, but in the back of his mind he could hear Bones' voice telling him that it wasn't rational. That thought made him smile and he glanced over at her, "Look, things might get a little dicey for a while until we know if Cullen is in or out…I want you to know I've got your back, ok?"

"Yeah, I know you do," Brennan felt a measure of security in his statement; not that she didn't feel confident in taking care of herself, but this was bigger than both of them and it was nice to know she had someone to depend on if she needed to. She took a step towards him and offered him a smile, "I've got your back too."

Booth's expression was soft, "I'm really glad; I couldn't ask for a better partner, you know." He'd had doubts at the very beginning of this unconventional partnership, but she had grown on him; gotten under his skin and now he wasn't sure how he'd manage without her.

"Imagine how much better of a partner I'd be if you'd let me carry a gun," Brennan smirked in spite of the fact that she was serious. At a time like this in particular, being able to carry a gun would come in extremely handy.

"It's not up to me, Bones," Booth tried to suppress his inner groan as he smirked back; if she was going to go this route, then he was going to find a way to shut her up the best way he knew how; he leaned in and kissed her.

Brennan generally didn't like to bring public displays of affection into the lab with her, but there was something in Booth's kiss that she found a very difficult time resisting and she gave in to the luxury of trying to calculate how many Newtonmeters the pressure from his lips might be expending and exactly what the ratio of give and take was between the delicious frictions their tongues were causing as they slid against each other.

The sound of someone clearling their throat near the doorway to Brennan's office caused them to pull apart and glance over to see a rather amused Angela Montenegro, "Wow, either my timing today is amazing or you two really should get a room."

"Hey, Ang, were you able to get a clearer image?" Brennan immediately changed the subject; as much as she was looking forward to being alone with Booth later on at his place, they still had a case and she needed to try and stay a little focused.

"Crystal clear in fact," Angela was extremely pleased with just how well the rendering had gone; she was working on utilizing the Angelator to do some facial measurements based on the image so that they might have even more data to go on, but that wasn't a sure bet from a two dimensional image and so for the time being she was going to keep it to herself.

Booth stepped towards her and took the print out of the image that she offered him. His eyebrows immediately shot up and he glanced over at Bones and with a rather ominous expression on his face he showed her the picture.

Brennan was the one that spoke as her eyes visibly widened at the revelation, "Walter Fitzpatrick's grandson Colin."

It appeared that Cullen was in the clear.


	28. Chapter 28

"But why won't he let us go pick up Colin Fitzpatrick?" Brennan wasn't exactly sure why they were on their way back to Booth's instead of on their way to arrest the young man. It was only logical that if he was somehow involved that he should be questioned.

"He's putting a surveillance team on him; there is no way that Colin Fitzpatrick is a trained sniper, Bones," Booth glanced over at her as they drove, "I think he's working for someone else and so does Cullen." He'd been on the phone for quite a while with his boss going over the details of what they'd found; the phone records had finally been pulled and there was a team of agents identifying all of the numbers that had been called or received by the phone since it was purchased. Most people thought that the disposable phones were untraceable, but in reality almost anything was traceable.

"Why does he assume that Colin isn't the sniper? What about the DC sniper...the younger of the two was a minor and he was a very good shot," Brennan didn't think that age alone should be a factor to exclude someone from consideration as a suspect.

"Because whoever is doing this is doing it to cover up whatever happened to Elizabeth Thompson...Colin Fitzpatrick doesn't have motive...he wasn't even born yet when she disappeared...Walter Fitzpatrick is the most likely suspect, he had motive; maybe she was going to tell his wife and that's why he killed her," Booth had been over all of this with Cullen, but they still weren't convinced that it was the former agent either.

"But Walter Fitzpatrick didn't have special ops training...he wouldn't have been able to be as precise as the murderer was without that," Brennan considered that the single mark she'd found on each of the four sets of remains indicated that whoever did this hadn't hesitated.

"Ok, so maybe Colin could have been the shooter...but I don't think so...you may be good with bones, but I can tell what it takes to be a sniper and he just doesn't have it," Still it would be far more convenient if he was the shooter. Cullen had come to the same conclusion and so they were going to wait until their surveillance team had something a little bit more concrete or the phone records turned up a number that could lead them directly to Colin Fitzpatrick or to someone who was more of likely suspect.

"How can you tell?" Brennan wasn't completely convinced.

"I just can, ok?" He let out a frustrated sigh, "Look, I trust you when you tell me that someone was whacked on the clavicle with an ice pick, even when I can't see it, so just trust me when I say that I know that Colin Fitzpatrick isn't our shooter."

"Fine," Brennan pursed her lips together and glanced out the window; she was frustrated that they were headed to Booth's apartment instead of still working the case. Not that she wasn't looking forward to spending some time alone with Booth without Angela walking in, she just wanted to get some closure on this case and just when it seemed that they had a very solid lead, they had to back off and wait. Waiting was not something she enjoyed doing.

Booth parked the vehicle and shut the engine off, glancing over at Bones, "Are we ok here?" Part of him was afraid that she was still going to push him away and find some reason why this relationship between them wasn't going to work.

"Yeah," Brennan looked a little surprised at his question, but she realized that the case had gotten her so worked up that she had let it spill over into her tone of voice, "I just want what you want...I want to find out who's responsible, I guess that I don't completely understand the rationale that the FBI uses in situations like this."

"We just have to make sure we do it right; we make one wrong step we either put ourselves in unnecessary danger or the guy gets off on a technicality," Booth smiled at her as he noticed a confident smile stealing across her face.

"That's not going to happen; you and I are working this case," Brennan had confidence that their past history of being very successful at solving difficult cases would be proven true on this case as well; if they had to wait a little while longer then she would just allow herself the indulgence of enjoying this new development between her and Booth for a few hours.

Booth had pulled alongside the curb in front of his building when his cell phone rang; a quick glance at the caller ID caused him to raise his eyebrows and mouthed something to Bones as he plugged some sort of accessory onto his phone before he answered the call, "Booth." His eyes narrowed in anger as he heard the sound of a voice that was beginning to irritate the hell out of him. He clenched his jaw and tried to keep his tone even and controlled, "If you think that killing a potential witness and an FBI agent is going to make me back off you're wrong; you were already looking at five counts of murder before you pulled this stunt." Booth had a satisfied smirk on his face as the line went dead.

"Did you get him?" Brennan hoped that the device he'd been given to record the distorted voice of the mystery caller had given the voice analysts at the FBI enough to isolate and remove the distortion so that they could identify the caller's real voice pattern. It might not identify who it was immediately, but it certainly did give them something for comparison that was admissible in court.

"Yes," Booth nodded in satisfaction, "I'll email the voice file to Cullen...he made it clear that he didn't want either one of us to go anywhere but here until they had a chance to trace all of the numbers from the phone records." He would by lying if he told her that he would rather work the case all night than spend it relaxing with her. It was still early enough by their normal working standards that he was formulating in his mind that he'd cook them a nice dinner, maybe watch a movie on his home theater system and if he had his way they'd make love nice and slow.

"So it's possible that they could have something in a few hours then," Brennan thought it was a rational conclusion to expect that if enough evidence came in to bring Colin Fitzpatrick in for questioning that she and Booth would need to be there.

"They aren't going to pull him in tonight," He offered her a soft smile and reached over and enveloped her hand with his, "Let's just enjoy having a little time alone together, ok? The case will still be there tomorrow," Despite his macho exterior which Bones continually referred to as his alpha male tendencies, he was a hopeless romantic and he wanted to make an effort to make her feel like the amazing woman he believed that she was.

Booth's words caused a sensation in Brennan's stomach that she wanted to identify as panic, but realized that truthfully it was much closer to excitement; she was still trying to wrap her mind around the changes that had occurred between them and just where it was going to go long term. If it was anyone but Booth she would have had no problem talking herself out of being with him, but somehow the two years that they'd spent together as partners and the friendship that had been slowly forged between them, an intimacy had developed between them that she was sure she couldn't live without. A sultry smile stole over her face as she leaned towards him.

Booth was sure she was going to kiss him and he closed his eyes in anticipation. Just as he felt her breath against his lips, it fanned out against his cheek and then against his ear as she whispered.

"Want to try for amazing?" Brennan's voice was sexy and as she pulled away decided to take advantage of the rate of speed Booth's mind was taking to process her question, she quickly reached for the door of the SUV, intent on making it up to his apartment just a few steps ahead of him.


	29. Chapter 29

Brennan had a mischievous smirk on her face as she leaned a shoulder against the door to Booth's apartment; she had beaten him to the elevator and had waggled her fingers at him as the door closed in his face; things were going exactly as she'd planned until she got out of the elevator and realized that she didn't have a key to his apartment. That was ok; her plan had failed, she would just have to adapt, she was a scientist she could do that. So here she was waiting for him to step out of the elevator; what she hadn't counted on though was the sound of footsteps coming up behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and found Booth walking towards her looking slightly out of breath. She arched her brows in his direction, "You couldn't wait for the elevator to come back down?"

Booth chuckled softly, "I thought the stairs would be faster." He certainly hadn't wanted to wait for the elevator after she'd made it clear what her intentions for the evening were; however, the fact that they had a serial killer threatening to kill them had given him an extra measure of motivation to get upstairs to Bones, and that way he could also do a quick sweep on the stairwell to make sure that there wasn't anyone lurking suspiciously that just might happen to fit the profile of the person they were looking for.

Brennan's expression was decidedly sultry, "A little eager are we?" Truth be told, she was eager herself; she had been extremely distracted by him all day. That in and of itself she found unsettling; she was usually very successful at compartmentalizing her life – work, sex, friendship – they all had a place, but they didn't generally spill over onto one another. Booth was now a part of all of those things and she couldn't find a way to compartmentalize him. Her friendship with him had brought something to the experience of having sex with him that was completely new to her and then working with him all day didn't really give her time to process what was happening, it just made her want him desperately; a thought that was both exhilarating and terrifying.

"I guess the dinner I was going to make us can wait?" There was a question in his tone because he didn't want to assume that she wanted to jump his bones the second he unlocked the door to his apartment; the idea of her jumping bones in general gave him a mental picture that had him trying to restrain a snicker worthy of a 13-year old as he envisioned her putting the smack down on a set of skeletal remains.

Brennan hadn't expected that he might have thought of cooking them dinner; she hadn't ever seen him cook. Of course in her mind she reasoned that he must cook food at times; he needed to eat, he often had Parker for the weekends, he'd dated, of course he knew how to cook; she'd just never been the beneficiary of it since most of the time he seemed to show up at her apartment at midnight bearing cartons of Wong Foo's. She simply arched her brows at him as he unlocked the door.

"O-kay," Booth could read her body language and it seemed to be yelling that dinner most definitely could wait. That was something that he definitely appreciated about Bones; she didn't make any bones about being eager about sex; another boney pun and Booth found himself snickering before he could stifle it. He was definitely beginning to feel like a horny teenage boy and he squashed the next bone-related pun before it could fully form in his mind for consideration.

As the door shut behind them Brennan reached for one of the belt loops on his jeans and as he spun around to face her she slipped her arms around his waist and tilted her head back, "Those jeans of yours should be against the law," she didn't care that she was essentially announcing that she enjoyed the way they hugged his ass so that the musculature which she had become very well acquainted with was extremely evident to her.

"No more so than yours should be," Booth had always noticed that Bones had soft feminine curves that were accentuated by a really great pair of jeans, but after being with her, his imagination had pretty much been running wild all day long and he was glad that at least for now there wasn't much they could do on the case except relax and enjoy each other.

"We really should do something about that, don't you think?" Brennan was teasing him with just how close her lips were to his. Stealing kisses at inopportune moments at the Jeffersonian did not compare at all with the anticipation of letting herself just get carried away with Booth right now.

"Mmmm," Booth response was lost against her lips as he leaned in and kissed her. He knew exactly what he wanted to do about this and he pulled her with him as he moved down the hallway towards his bedroom. His fingers fumbled with the buttons on her blouse and he realized that she was already tugging at his belt. He abruptly broke off the kiss, "Let's slow down there a little bit, Bones," not that he was really complaining, he just didn't want her eagerness to get him naked to trigger a false alarm in his shorts.

"I don't want slow, Booth," Brennan was impatient and she didn't care if Booth knew it; slow could be for later, but she'd been thinking about him all day and she wanted to get him out of those pants as quickly as possible.

Booth leaned in and kissed her again to shut her up; if Bones didn't want slow she wasn't going to get slow, but he also didn't want her hands drifting below his belt before he was ready for it. He wrapped his arms around her waist in a not so romantic manner and lifted her up just far enough that she couldn't reach the floor. Her arms were now pressed to her sides, and Booth sort of waddled quickly towards his room before he set her down next to his bed. He grinned at her as he pulled away, "I think that might speed things up a bit."

"I suppose it does," If it hadn't been so comical, Brennan might have given him a piece of her mind about the alpha male move he'd just pulled on her; somehow in this instance she was more than fine with it, and she made a mental note to tell him not to make a habit out of it unless sex was imminent.

Booth leaned in and kissed her again, somewhere in the middle of it all he found Bones tugging at his shirt and he managed to finish unbuttoning her blouse before sliding it off of her shoulders. This was going to take a hell of a lot longer if they kept kissing while they tried to undress each other, and finally logic seemed to temporarily surge ahead of their libidos as they pulled apart long enough to discard shoes and socks and shuck off those jeans they'd both claimed should be illegal. Booth found himself being shoved back onto the bed in nothing but his tighty-whiteys and he couldn't contain his grin as Bones climbed up next to him and then pulled herself astride his thighs, her simple cotton camisole and no nonsense panties looking far sexier on her than just about anything else he could conjure up in his imagination at that moment.

Brennan was definitely not shy when it came to sex and she didn't hesitate as she leaned down and kissed Booth; she immediately felt his hands on her waist, his fingers finding their way underneath the fabric of her camisole as they brushed against her skin. She whispered in between kisses as she slid her hands up his chest, "Your musculature is very well defined." She couldn't help but appreciate all of his soft tissue under her fingertips as she reacquainted herself with it.

Booth tried to mumble back, his mind much more focused on the way she was pressing herself against a part of his anatomy that was becoming more and more well defined with each passing second, "You're soft...curvy...feel...good," his ability to form a logical and well reasoned sentence was definitely short circuiting. Somewhere far, far back in the deep recesses of his mind he was jumping for joy that this felt like it was already heading towards the definition of amazing and he only hoped that Bones could feel it too.


	30. Chapter 30

What started out hot and heavy slowed to a low simmer after Brennan began to kiss her way down Booth's chest and slid her fingers underneath the waistband of his tighty-whiteys intent on tugging them down and giving him a special surprise. As Booth began to realize exactly what she was up to, he felt a slight surge of panic; his voice wavered ever so slightly, "Uh, Bones."

Brennan glanced up with a wicked smile on her face; she had his shorts down to a rather dangerous level, but still hadn't eyed the prize yet, "Relax, Booth." She had never known a man who didn't love oral sex; not that she was particularly fond of giving it all the time, but according to Angela most men found the idea of a woman giving them pleasure with her mouth a major turn on and she had suggested to Booth that they should try for amazing.

"Nope, I think this is something we need to talk about," It wasn't that Booth didn't enjoy the idea of a woman's mouth making love to his little secret agent; he just didn't want to go there this early in his relationship with Bones. He got the distinct impression from her that she equated intimacy with sexual contact and he wanted her to find a measure of satisfaction in the emotional intimacy that came along with a healthy romantic relationship; he wanted her to know what it was like to have a man make love to her without all of the trappings of what could easily be considered just a cheap physical release.

Brennan looked a bit put out and confused at his hesitancy; a moment ago he was more than eager to skip dinner and head right to his bedroom. She wasn't sure what had changed, but something had and she wondered if somehow she'd done something that made him have second thoughts about the way their relationship was going. She let go of his waistband and moved to get off of his thighs; she looked startled when Booth's hands encircled her wrists and pulled her back towards him.

Booth's expression was soft as he regarded the uncertainty he read in her eyes, "Hey, let's slow this down a little bit; I definitely want to have sex with you right now, but just not that," He thought that little point of clarification needed to be made despite the fact that his little secret agent wasn't being so secretive at the moment.

Brennan's brow was furrowed, "I always thought that most men enjoyed oral stimulation," Perhaps Angela wasn't right or perhaps Booth wasn't most men.

Booth felt his throat constrict; the woman had a way of being so damn clinical when she talked about sex most of the time that it made him feel like he was sitting in the waiting room of a proctologist's office, "It's not that I don't enjoy it, Bones," his lips twitched up at the corners as he watched a smirk crossed her face and his hands settled at her waist, "I just like to wait a little while...a few weeks...or months until I cross _that_ line with a woman."

"I don't understand," Brennan looked at him curiously; for a man who exhibited alpha male tendencies on a regular basis, he certainly wasn't exhibiting them now. She hadn't doubted his sexual prowess last night; he'd more that surpassed her expectations of what being with him would be like, but she hadn't anticipated that Booth wouldn't want this.

Booth's fingers played at the edge of her camisole and his voice took on a husky quality, "I don't want this to be just some release for your biological urges. I want to feel like we're really connecting, Temperance." Somehow using her given name seemed appropriate just then; he wanted her to know that this was about more than just trying to reach the pinnacle of physical pleasure together; he wanted to reach deep into her heart so she would know that he wanted more than just sex from this relationship.

"But it _is_ a biological release," And damn if she didn't want that release soon; he was certainly making this difficult; he was the heart person, she was the brain person and right now his heart was derailing what her brain was telling the rest of her body that she was in desperate need of.

"But it's more than that...do you trust me?" Booth pulled her closer until their lips were just a fraction of an inch apart. He didn't want her to just trust him when they were working a case together or trust him that he would use his investigative skills, he wanted her to trust him that mind blowing sex came from knowing someone, really knowing who they were on the inside and wanting to be with them even more in spite of it.

"Yes, you know I do," Brennan wasn't sure she was completely following where he was going with this. She did trust him, so much that is scared her and yet here she was wanting to please him the way she hadn't wanted to please any man; the paradox in that was unsettling.

"Then leave the scientific analysis out of bed; trust your instincts," Booth leaned in to kiss her and was surprise to find her hands flattened out against his chest pushing him away.

There was a bit of fire in her eyes as she scooted back a little bit, "I _was_ trusting my instincts when I thought you might enjoy..." she suddenly felt flustered, "well before..." She took a deep breath and gathered her most rational thoughts, "In this instance my instincts proved to be wrong or perhaps I _was_ right and you just need to try and relax and trust your partner a little bit more." She wasn't sure where that psychology-laced thought came from, but it was like striking a needle on the haystack judging from the expression on Booth's face.

Booth looked like he was about to deny it, but then he realized that she was right; he wanted her to trust him, but was he really trusting her with himself? His expression softened, "I'm sorry...you're right." Not that he was ready to just lay on back and let her pick right back up where she had been heading before; he apparently had some significant trust issues too. His eyes searched hers as he considered that he was no better than she was when it came to truly connecting with another human being; at best it was an awkward fumbling towards something that hopefully would turn out to be beautiful.

"Why does this have to be so complicated, Booth?" Brennan didn't like how prickly human relationships were, but the friendship they'd forged had created this deeper need for him that she had finally identified as something emotional that she needed to understand. If it had been anyone else other than Booth she might have run away, but it _was_ Booth and she needed him.

"It's not complicated," Booth smiled as his hands came up to frame her face, his thumbs softly caressing her cheeks, "we just can't create perfection overnight...just like our partnership took time, this is going to take some time too." They had a wonderfully symbiotic working relationship but this romance between them wasn't going to unfurl itself without a few twists and turns and some nurturing along the way.

Brennan looked visibly relieved as if she thought their inability to have perfect sexual harmony would break this thing up between them before it hardly had a chance to get started. She smiled at him and felt herself relax as her hands slid up his chest and she leaned her face towards his, "It did take us a while to find a way to work together didn't it?"

"Practice makes perfect," Booth's lips were barely touching hers as he considered that he wanted to try and draw this out as long as possible and show her what making love was really all about.

"I like the sound of that," Brennan pressed her lips against his and as she felt his hands slipping underneath her camisole she mentally kicked the scientist in her out of bed.


	31. Chapter 31

Brennan wandered into Booth's kitchen clad in nothing more than her panties and a button up shirt she'd plucked from the back of a chair in his bedroom; the man in question had easily fallen asleep after what he'd blissfully referred to in a whisper against her ear as one of the best times he'd ever had, and he had spooned against her sounding as content as she felt. She wasn't really all the surprised that he was a cuddler, but there was something about just laying there while he was sleeping that had begun to make her feel extraordinarily restless. She felt satisfied that was to be sure, but after what she had to agree was some of the most gratifying sex she'd had in recent memory she found that she was hungry. While Booth's breathing had evened out her stomach had started grumbling and since they had skipped dinner in the interest of satisfying more pressing biological needs she thought perhaps she should make him dinner.

She began to rummage quietly through the cupboards and a smile stole over her face as a plan began to come together; she still wasn't sure what all of this meant, this being with Booth, or why she had this compelling irrational need to make something that she knew would not only taste good but would quite possible initiate a second round in the bedroom. But for the moment she was trying not to overanalyze things or talk herself out of whatever this was; that in and of itself was a monumental feat.

She had an image in her mind of a conversation she'd had with Angela quite a while ago about what she was missing out on by protecting her heart and not fully engaging herself with other people; a protective measure certainly unconsciously incorporated into her persona after she'd been abandoned by her parents so many years ago. But her father had come back into her life; not exactly under the most ideal circumstance, but he was trying to be the father he'd never been to her; had even allowed himself to be arrested for murder because of it. Somehow in the midst of that, she realized that she had a choice in the matter of how alone she let her heart be, she could either remain abandoned, or she could choose to take a risk and be with someone who might just show her what the real thing was. She hadn't wanted to believe that love even existed, but the evidence was beginning to prove to her that love was an intangible that really couldn't be measured anywhere else but in the hearts of the two people that shared it. She didn't know if what was happening between her and Booth was love, but there was something that her heart was telling her that she had to explore and find out. Completely irrational, but she was learning that maybe love was irrational in its nature; she loved her father and given all that he'd done, loving him was completely irrational.

Once she'd put the ingredients together and popped them into the oven, she wandered around Booth's apartment studying it as if it had some story to tell about Booth himself; something that she'd never really had the luxury to do before because they'd seldom lingered there unless they were working on a case. There were framed photos of him and Parker; photos of people that she assumed were his family; a few photos of scenes around DC and surprisingly a picture of the two of them that she hadn't even been aware that someone had taken. It looked like it had been taken at some Jeffersonian function and as she studied it she had a vague recollection of Angela and a camera; she smiled, of course her best friend who had been pushing her towards Booth for years would probably have been pushing Booth towards her for just as long.

She was still studying the photos on his wall as the aroma from the oven wafted out tempting her to just go ahead and eat and let Booth sleep; she needn't have worried that he would sleep through something that smelled so good.

"Bones?" Booth's voice was groggy as he padded out into the kitchen with a slightly confused look on his face. He'd momentarily panicked when he'd woken up and she hadn't been laying there in bed with him, but as the smell of something heavenly hit his senses, he realized that she hadn't fled his apartment at all. A sleepy smile stole over his face as he slipped out of bed and grabbed a pair of boxers out of his dresser since he had no idea what had happened to the underwear he'd had on earlier; stuck between the sheets somewhere no doubt. He slipped them on before he headed out of the bedroom.

Brennan glanced over at him; the sight of his mussed hair and the grin on his face caused her stomach to flip as her thoughts drifted back to just a little while ago in his bed and she couldn't help but smile back at him as she walked over and met his kiss halfway.

As he pulled away, Booth looked at her quizzically, "Is that what I think it is?" The idea that she'd cooked for him when he'd wanted to cook for her gave him a feeling that he was sure Parker would refer to warm fuzzies.

"You'll have to wait and find out," Why she was blushing she wasn't sure; it was probably some physiological reaction to the warmth in the kitchen as she moved to retrieve what she'd put in the oven; the fact that Booth seemed extremely pleased by the turn of events had absolutely nothing to do with it, nor did the fact that he'd come up behind her to verify his suspicions.

"Mac and cheese, Bones," The smile was evident in his voice, "I love mac and cheese, especially _your_ mac and cheese," He was definitely _not_ exaggerating, he did think that it tasted phenomenal, however the fact that she'd made it specifically for him made the mere idea of it taste good before he'd even gotten a bite of it. If this was anything like the first time she'd made it for him, it was going to be out of this world.

Brennan let out something akin to a giggle as she pulled the ramekins of macaroni and cheese out of the oven, "You didn't have all of the ingredients I put in it before, but I just went with it; I hope it tastes ok."

"It's mac and cheese, Bones, I'm sure it'll be great," Booth could sense that somehow this was about more than just her ability to execute a recipe; that it was her way of trying to do something to please him and that idea caused him to pull her into a hug almost as soon as she'd put food down on the counter.

There was something about this; standing in Booths kitchen half naked that should have completely freaked her out, but instead she felt comforted, something that felt like she was at home even though it was logically impossible since she lived elsewhere. She tipped her head back rather than mumble into his chest, "We should probably eat before it gets cold."

Booth let out a chuckle and placed a quick kiss against her lips, "This is great, thank you." He was going to grab some plates and utensils, but he noticed that she'd already set the table and he found himself completely intrigued by this side of Bones.

There was something incredibly intimate about sharing a meal like that; neither one of them fully clothed, but laughing and talking about nothing in particular, reveling in just being together; the case for the time being shut out of their minds. It was the first time in weeks that Brennan really felt like she'd relaxed and she was looking forward to the rest of the night with Booth. She smiled as he insisted on clearing the table and she took that opportunity to wander around his apartment again; stopping to look closely at a few service awards that he'd received that he hadn't hung in his office at work.

Booth glanced up from where he was washing the dishes and he felt an immediate panic rush in as he realized that where she was standing was the one place in his apartment that might just be in the line of fire from the rooftop of the building next to his. He didn't even bother to turn the water off, he strode purposefully towards her. His arm encircled her as time seemed to slow down and as he spun her away from the window, the glass exploded as a sniper's bullet zipped through it and slammed into flesh.


	32. Chapter 32

A string of profanity emanated from Booth's mouth as the reality of excruciating pain moved from the nerve endings in his ass all the way up to his brain. The fact that he'd pulled his partner from the line of fire before pushing her to the floor registered a few seconds later, "Bones?" There was worry and panic in his voice as he wondered if she had been struck too.

"Booth?" Brennan could tell by the way he was moaning that he had been injured; either by the glass from the window or from the bullet that had torn it apart. She extricated herself from underneath him and as she did, she immediately noticed the blood seeping into the fabric of his boxers, "Booth, you're bleeding." Her mind tried to shift into the clinical scientist that she was, but she was having difficulty separating herself from the feelings she had for him.

"It hurts like hell," Booth had been shot before, but this was in a particularly fleshy part of his body that was generally used for sitting; he had a feeling that it was going to be a few days at least before he was going to want to sit at all.

Brennan's brow was furrowed as she yanked his boxers down to expose the wound and see what it was that she was dealing with, "It's a good thing you moved; the bullet could have easily pierced your femoral artery." As it was, she could tell that he was extremely lucky; Booth would probably call it a miracle and at the moment she would be hard pressed to argue the point because she felt extremely lucky that she hadn't lost him so soon after she'd really found him.

"Femoral what? All I know is that some bastard shot me in the butt, Bones," Booth really didn't have the patience for all of her squinty speak right at the moment; he might be a tough guy, a great FBI agent, but his ass hurt like hell and he didn't appreciate the damn sniper interrupting an evening that had been destined to be on his top ten list; maybe even lead his top ten list.

Brennan studied the musculature of his ass, "It looks like the wound has an entry and exit and doesn't seem that deep," these were observable facts and she was sure that with a little medical attention that he was going to be ok, even if his well structured ass would bear the marks of the event for the rest of his life; once he was healed he would be as good as new.

"Well it feels deep," There was a hint of a whine in Booth's voice and he realized as he heard purposeful footsteps in the hallway that he was going to get more than his fair share of embarrassment in the next few moments and he let out a groan.

A knock sounded at the door, "Agent Booth? This is Agent Templeton, is everything ok in there?" The agents that had been stationed outside of Booth's apartment building had heard the shot and while two of them had immediately headed in the direction that the shot had come from, Templeton and his partner Carlson called for back up and had made a beeline towards Booth's apartment.

Booth let out a groan, "Bones, let them in before they break down the door," he was going to have a hard time explaining this to Cullen. He was sure that his boss wasn't going to be thrilled with finding out like this that he was seeing his partner romantically; he didn't necessarily think that it would affect their partnership, he hoped it wouldn't, but the fact that he hadn't notified Cullen as soon as their status had changed was not going to go in his favor.

Brennan didn't think about what she had on, or rather what she didn't have on until she opened the door and met the quizzical looks of Agents Templeton and Carlson, "Booth needs medical attention," She quickly shifted into the don't mess with me scientist mode as she began to order the two agents around, "The bullet wound is through and through so the bullet itself should be somewhere in the apartment." She was fighting a feeling of panic as she realized that Booth had saved her life; if he hadn't acted on his instincts it just might be her shooting that they would be responding to and more than likely the sniper's bullet would have hit her in a vital location. She began to visibly tremble.

"Dr. Brennan, are _you_ ok, the blood..." Templeton's words trailed off as he tried to elicit a response from her; she didn't look good and he was afraid that she probably needed medical attention as well.

"It's Booth's," Brennan found that her legs were not doing a very good job of holding her up and in the back of her mind she realized that she was probably going into shock at what had just happened. She began to ramble as Templeton ushered her over to the sofa, "His wound seems superficial," whether she was trying to convince herself or Agent Templeton she wasn't sure, but if she just kept saying the words maybe it would just make time move backwards even though she knew that it was completely impossible, rationally speaking.

Carlson was calling for a paramedic unit and he resisted the urge to comment on what had clearly transpired between Booth and the good doctor; something that was going to win him an easy hundred bucks from his partner who claimed that the relationship between the pair was strictly professional. From their attire and the remnant of what appeared to be a romantic dinner there was no question in his mind that the professional relationship between them had turned decidedly very personal. He turned his attention to Booth, "You gonna be ok till the medics get here man?"

"First aid kit in my bathroom," Booth gestured in the general direction of the hallway; he knew that regardless of the fact that he had been shot, the fact that he'd quite literally been caught with his pants down was going to make him the butt of jokes around the Bureau for quite a while.

Carlson headed for the bathroom and Brennan turned her attention back to Booth, "You're losing a lot of blood," The worry in her voice was palpable, even a superficial bullet wound could become serious if the bleeding wasn't stopped. She barked at Templeton, "He needs pressure on the wound," she moved to treat it herself but as she tried to stand up, her legs wobbled.

"Bones, you need to sit down, they got it covered...it's gonna be ok," Booth could do this; he was going to focus on Bones and keep her calm and as Carlson came rushing back with the first aid kit his eyes locked with hers, "Temperance, it's going to be ok."

"Dr. Brennan, do you want a blanket...a robe?" Templeton knew that in a few more minutes there would be paramedics and more than likely Cullen would make an appearance too; he knew enough about her from reputation alone to know that if anyone else saw her in her current state of dress there would be hell to pay later.

Brennan just nodded; she wasn't sure what she wanted, but as she continued to look at Booth, she felt herself breathing a little more easily and the emotions that had been welling up in her throat in an effort to overwhelm her were ebbing slowly.

"Back of my bedroom door is a robe," Booth winced as Carlson applied pressure with a large gauze pad; he gestured towards Templeton to get the hell on it or he was going to find a way to do it himself. He knew that if it wasn't already abundantly obvious that as soon as Templeton walked into his bedroom that any doubt that he and Bones were sleeping together would be removed. Thankfully the man simply nodded as he went and retrieved the robe.

Brennan accepted the robe without comment and slipped it on; she felt completely out of control and she wasn't sure what to do. Normally she would have let Booth hug her or she would call Angela; right now, Booth was the one that needed her support and she was fairly certain if she called Angela that her friend would freak out.

"It's going to be ok, Temperance," Booth offered her a smile even as he grimaced at the pain in his ass that Carlson was agitating with the pressure he was applying.

Brennan tried to smile back as she heard the sirens of a medic unit approaching, but in the back of her mind she reasoned that if she'd just remembered to stay away from the window that Booth wouldn't have been shot. Deep down she knew that _this_ was her fault and she wasn't sure how Booth was going to forgive her once he figured that out.


	33. Chapter 33

Angela hadn't freaked out nearly as much as Brennan had thought she would. Certainly she'd been concerned, maybe overreacted at the news that Booth had been shot, and had taken a few minutes to convince that no one was going to die, but after she'd calmed down she could tell by the tone in Brennan's voice that she needed a friend. It was evident that she also needed reassurance that none of this was her fault; something that Angela was sure was another one of those avoidance techniques that her best friend had become so adept at employing during any romantic entanglement. She wasn't about to let Brennan rationalize herself out of a romantic relationship with Booth just when she'd finally woken up and recognized what everyone else had been seeing all along.

"He's going to get in trouble with Cullen; I'm sure he's thinking about how this is going to affect his career. Being in the FBI means everything to him," Brennan had her arms curled around knees as she perched on a couch in the waiting room at the hospital. Booth had made her come to the hospital and get checked out when he noticed that some of the glass from the window had cut her hand; it was superficial compared to the gunshot wound in his butt and as soon as she was treated she'd planted herself in the waiting room. She wanted to see Booth, but he was having his wound treated still and then Cullen wanted to get a statement from him. Brennan was sure that everything that she had risked to be with Booth was going to crumble and turn into dust now that his boss knew what was going on.

"Booth is a great FBI agent, but sweetie but that isn't what means the most to him," Angela was sure that next to Parker that Brennan was probably the most important person in the world to Booth; convincing her of that was another story entirely.

"Please don't tell me that you think he's in love with me...love is simply..." Her words trailed off as she realized that despite the scientific rational that she'd clung to, that what people referred to as love was nothing more than biochemical responses to stimuli, she truly hoped that Booth was in fact in love with her; maybe if that was a fact that could be established then her fear that he would eventually leave her could be undermined by strong evidence that there were certain bonds that could be maintained despite circumstances.

"You're blind if you can't tell how Booth feels about you, sweetie. And I think if you walked away from this you'd regret it for the rest of your life; think long and hard before you make any rash decision just because you're scared," Angela let out a sigh and reached over and grabbed Brennan's hand in encouragement, "I know you think that it's easy for me, but we're more alike than you think...being with Jack...it was really scary to go there, but I'm happy, we're happy. Even with everything being thrown in our path trying to keep us from getting married, I know I want to be with him. When you're in love, Bren, you know it. Don't second guess yourself because real love doesn't happen everyday." She hoped that what she said made sense; it was completely obvious to her that whether Brennan wanted to admit it or not, she was just as in love with Booth as he was with her.

"What if he loses his career over this?" Brennan knew that she was not thinking rationally; if she _was_ thinking rationally she would consider that she didn't have all of the relevant facts to come to a conclusion quite yet. These feelings she had were putting a spin on things that had her orbiting off kilter and she didn't know how to make it right, or if she even wanted to. Being with Booth was exciting and intoxicating and it just felt right and she very seldom used her feelings to measure anything as life altering as something like this. Until he'd been shot that is and the FBI had swarmed his apartment and she hadn't been able to see him.

"Stop thinking so much, Bren," Angela squeezed Brennan's hand again, "What you're feeling is completely normal and in a few minutes when they let you in to see Booth, you're going to see that all of this worrying about what's going to happen between the two of you is completely unnecessary." Of course telling her all of this and making her grasp it and feel it for herself was a hard sell; part of the being normal part _was_ the worrying and second guessing; the only thing was that Brennan tended to take it to an extreme and make it an art form.

"I don't understand what is taking so long," Brennan chose to file Angela's words away for later consideration; right now she wanted someone to tell her what the hell was taking so long with Booth and if they were ever going to let her in to see him.

"Sweetie, you need to calm down," Angela couldn't remember seeing her like this in a very long time; maybe never. She glanced over at the exam room that Brennan had said Booth was supposed to be in and briefly considered busting in to get some answers until she saw Cullen coming out with a surprisingly calm expression on his face.

Brennan felt her throat constrict as she saw Booth's boss walking purposefully towards her; there was a concern on his face that she had seldom seen in the context of working a case; part of her believed that Cullen simply didn't like her because she was too scientific. She had expected him to find out that her relationship with Booth had changed, but somehow she had expected anger, not what appeared to be compassion.

"Dr. Brennan," Cullen wasn't really sure what to do with Booth and his squint; there was no formal policy for partnerships with people from outside agencies so in theory he had no recourse in terms of implementing some sort of consequence for dating their partner. Initially he wanted to split Booth and Dr. Brennan up as a working team, but the reality was they worked well together, they solved crimes, and most importantly, no other agent had lasted working with her as long as Booth had. Maybe if they were romantically involved it would lessen the childish bickering that seemed to characterize their partnership. He wasn't completely convinced, but somehow Booth had talked his way into at least trying it out before making a final decision. Just as well because he still needed both of them on this case.

Brennan tried to compose herself, but at the moment she wasn't feeling terribly professional, "How's Booth?" She knew that whatever had been decided would be whatever it was and she would learn how to deal with it, but all she seemed to care about right now was Booth and when she could see him.

"Stubborn as hell," Cullen let out a soft chuckle, "He's asking to see you." He let out a thoughtful sigh, "We're going to get this guy, Dr. Brennan." He didn't want to elaborate in the halls of the hospital; he had talked to Booth about the case until his pain meds had started to really kick in. He would tell him later that Colin Fitzpatrick had been in custody when the shooting had happened. There was a lot of information being sorted through right now that was giving them a very clear direction to go in to find their shooter and he was hoping as sure as hell that their shooter would end up being responsible for every murder associated with this case.

Somehow the knowledge that Booth wanted to see her and the fact that Cullen had tried to reassure her rather than deliver a stern expression that she'd seen so many times within his office bolstered her courage and she simply nodded and unconsciously pulled her hand out of Angela's grip and headed directly for the door of the room Booth was in.

Booth glanced up as the door opened; the IV drip in his arm was starting to take effect and the pain in his ass was almost as good as numb and he sounded loopy as he offered her a grin, "My, Bones."

Brennan smirked at him in spite of everything that had happened over the last several hours, "How are you feeling?" She wasn't surprised to see him lying on his stomach; it was logical that a gunshot to the ass would require he stay off of it for a while until it healed; she had hoped though he might be a bit more cognizant for a real conversation.

"I got shot in the butt," Booth looked at her with a sappy expression, "Did I really save you?" There was just enough coherence in him that wanted to know for sure that she was really ok.

"Yeah, you saved me," Brennan felt her voice waver and she realized that no matter how much she wanted to blame herself for being in the line of fire that Booth would have blamed himself if he hadn't been there to save her. She pulled a chair close to his bed and reached over to lace her fingers with his.

"Me and Bones, we're a team," Booth closed his eyes, the pain meds were taking over now and he seemed to drifting off to sleep, "Cullen's gonna let us give it a try."

Brennan's eyes widened at this little tidbit of information; Cullen hadn't told her anything and now it appeared that she was going to have to wait until the drugs wore off until she was going to get anything out of Booth.


	34. Chapter 34

**Author's Note:** I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter posted. My neighbors from hell have finally been forced to move out and I can finally think straight again long enough to write. Without any further delay, here is the next chapter.

* * *

Booth was walking gingerly with the help of a cane while his poor derriere healed and he seemed to be losing his quest to try to keep up with Bones as she walked briskly towards her office to retrieve a couple of files before they headed over to the FBI to meet with Cullen. Of course with a cane in one hand and an inflatable doughnut in the other he was just glad to be out of the hospital and cleared to work as long as he didn't drive or overdo it that is. He was sort of hoping to slip in underneath the proverbial radar as he entered the lab; it had been bad enough when a couple of his fellow agents had stopped by the hospital to check up on him only to make him the butt of their butt jokes; he could only imagine what the squints would come up with and he was hoping he wouldn't have to find out. He hadn't even gotten past the platform when Hodgins appeared almost out of thin air.

"Dude, bummer about your ass," There was a delighted smirk on Hodgins' face that belied his concerned tone and it seemed that he was just warming up, "Guess it's a good thing you don't have a sit down job." That elicited a laugh from Hodgins at his own remarkable humor.

Booth laughed for a fraction of a second and then narrowed his gaze, lifting his cane and placing the end of it firmly against Hodgins' chest, "Cut it with the butt jokes, I'm not really in the mood." Right now he was in the mood to catch bad guys, specifically the bad guy that had shot him in the butt and who they were fairly certain was guilty of at least six murders; most likely seven if they ever found the body of Elizabeth Thompson. Now if only Bones would hurry up with those files so they could get right on out of here and head over to the Bureau.

Hodgins raised his hands and stepped back, both eyebrows raised at just how testy their favorite FBI agent was, "O-k-a-y," had this been just about anyone else, he would have tossed in a comment about Booth getting his panties in a twist or being a little cheeky, but the G-man seemed to have lost his sense of humor and so the bug and slime guy decided to just save his pun-laced one liners for later when Booth wasn't so obviously out of sorts.

By the time Booth made his way into Bones' office, he was ready to take a nice little rest on that inflatable doughnut; unfortunately, Bones looked like she had already found what she needed and was moving towards the door as he walked in. A very uncharacteristic whine escaped from Booth's mouth, "See I told you that you walked too fast, Bones."

It was all Brennan could do to not snort out a little laugh, "I told you that you could have waited in the car, Booth." Since he'd been discharged from the hospital, he'd sounded more like a small child than a strong grown up FBI agent.

"I don't wait in the car; we're a team, who else is going to have your back?" Booth could tell that she wasn't buying it, but he certainly wasn't going to let a bullet wound to his butt stop him from doing his job and make sure that no one else took a shot at his Bones.

Brennan stepped towards him with a distinct smirk etched on her face, "You are being ridiculous." She had to admit that she was enjoying having the upper hand; even Cullen had suggested that she make sure that Booth followed his doctor's orders or he might put him on medical leave.

"But you like it," Booth wasn't completely confident of that fact, but if he could delay having to walk all the way back out to where Bones had parked her car for a few more minutes maybe his butt wouldn't hurt so bad.

Brennan raised a single eyebrow at him and then leaned in as if she was going to kiss him, but moved to whisper in his ear instead, "We have a meeting with Cullen, you can be ridiculous later." As she pulled away, she smirked and then headed towards the doorway of her office. As much as she would love to immerse herself in working on some remains from Limbo, she realized that the case she and Booth were working on had taken on a life of its own and they needed to solve it as quickly as possible so they could return to some semblance of normalcy. She ran into Angela almost as soon as she'd walked out of her office.

"Where's agent Hot Stuff?" Angela had heard from Hodgins that Booth had come in with Brennan and he was in a less than pleasant mood, not that she blamed him really after getting shot; she was actually surprised that he was working.

"He should be coming, we have a meeting with Cullen," Brennan glanced back to see if Booth was indeed coming and noticed that he was wincing as he walked with his cane. She immediately wondered if he shouldn't be at home resting instead of acting like the alpha male he was like nothing was amiss.

Angela picked right up on it, "Booth, didn't they give you any pain medication at the hospital?" If they had it appeared that it was either not enough, or he was trying to be the tough guy and not take it; typical male response.

"It makes me loopy," Booth knew that he wasn't going convince either Bones or Angela that he'd been taken his pain meds when in fact he hadn't, so he didn't exactly answer the question. It wasn't that the medication didn't work; it was that it probably worked too well and he didn't feel like he was quite in control when he was taking them. He didn't like not being in control especially when this particular case still needed to be solved.

"Booth, it's been scientifically proven that the use of pain relievers actually speed up the healing process, not taking them is just going to prolong it," Brennan wasn't sure that giving Booth scientific data would have any impact on him; in the past when she presented data to him about other things he was more inclined to cling to what he felt rather than approach things rationally.

"Well if I'm loopy and our killer comes after us, I'd much rather have a sore ass and be able to shoot my gun straight than live in pain-free la-la land and shoot something I thought was the killer by mistake," Booth raised both eyebrows in conclusion confident that he was making perfect sense.

"You shouldn't be handling firearms while you're on medication anyway," Brennan briefly considered saying that she really should legally be allowed to carry a gun, but it was an argument she knew she wasn't going to win. The fact that she carried a gun in her purse despite the fact that she wasn't supposed to have one at all was something that Booth seemed to conveniently ignore as long as she didn't actually fire it.

"Another reason not to take them," Booth looked smug. Before he could say anything more, his cell phone rang and he fumbled for it and nearly dropped the inflatable doughnut before answering it, "Booth." It was clear from the way he straightened up that it was probably Cullen on the other end of the line, "Yes, sir, we're on our way now." He glanced over at Bones, "She has the files and we're heading to the car." A subtle roll of his eyes and a stifled snort later, "Yes, Dr. Brennan is driving."

Angela didn't even try and restrain her amusement as Booth ended the call.

"Bones we need to go," Booth knew that she'd been waiting for him, but with new news on the case, he was going to find a way to match her stride as they headed for the car, "Colin Fitzpatrick is singing like a canary."

"What does that mean?" Brennan hurried after him, concerned that he was probably moving too quickly given the wince in his gait and curious what Colin Fitzpatrick singing like a small yellow bird had to do with their case.


	35. Chapter 35

"I just bought the cell phone, I didn't use it," Colin Fitzpatrick was pale and looked as if he was about to have a nervous breakdown as Booth stared him down. Colin had been more than willing to start yammering on as soon as he was taken into custody, but now that he was in the interrogation room, he couldn't seem to get his words out in more than short staccato sentences.

"Well who did you buy it for, Colin? You expect me to believe that a college student like you doesn't need a cell phone?" Booth was cranky; his ass hurt like hell, he was in serious need of pain medication, and he had a suspect in custody that wasn't telling him what he needed to know.

"It's not mine. Grandpa asked me to buy it," As much as Colin was talking, he wasn't really stringing together too many coherent thoughts at a time.

"Your Grandfather, Walter Fitzpatrick?" Booth did not like the sound of this; he glanced over at Bones who was sitting across the table from Colin and from the expression on her face, it was clear that she didn't believe the young man, at least not completely.

Colin sputtered, "Grandpa asked me to buy it...but it wasn't for him." The young man looked terrified.

"Who was the phone for?" Brennan's voice was firm and yet insistent, "Someone has been using it to commit serious crimes and if we don't find out who it is, you are going to be held responsible." Perhaps it was a bluff; she'd paid attention to how Booth did these things and she'd learned a thing or two in the process. She just wanted to find out who was responsible and have Booth arrest them.

"I didn't do anything," Colin's voice wavered as he regarded the hard nosed FBI agent and his partner, he really wasn't sure what he was being accused of and he was doing his best to remember why he'd purchased the cell phone in the first place, "I bought the phone for Grandpa, he asked me to buy it for Uncle Mike. Sometimes I run errands for them; pick up prescriptions for Grandpa, help Uncle Mike around the house, stuff like that. I'm just trying to earn money for college...I didn't do anything wrong." He didn't sound completely convinced because he was clearly confused. Since when had it become a crime to buy a cell phone for someone else?

Booth's eyes narrowed at the mention of this Uncle Mike; he had a vague recollection that Colin had been going to see him the day they'd stopped by to interview Walter Fitzpatrick and he wanted to know more, a hell of a lot more.

Brennan looked at Booth with that same realization that the name sounded familiar.

Booth sounded too patient, "What is your Uncle Mike's last name?" If Colin didn't give him more information and give it to him fast, he was going to be tempted to put his cane to use on the boy; as it was he was pissed off that he had to bring it into the interrogation room in the first place because he didn't like a suspect to see any sign of weakness in him.

"Mike Corrigan. He's my grandmother's brother; Grandpa's brother-in-law. They're just a couple of old guys," Colin clearly didn't believe that either his grandfather or his Uncle Mike was capable of committing any crime that would require an interrogation by the FBI, "What in the world does a cell phone have to do with all of this?"

"I'm afraid you're going to have to sit tight for a little while; Agent Templeton will keep you company," Booth waved through the two way mirror for the other agent to babysit and then gestured for Bones to follow him out of the interrogation room.

They had barely shut the door when Booth pulled out his cell phone, "We need to pull Walter Fitzpatrick in here now and we need to find out who in the hell this Mike Corrigan is and if he has any military background; specifically if he has any sniper training." He ended the call and glanced over at Bones, "This has to be our guy."

"We don't know that; I know you want to trust your gut, Booth, but we need to wait and make sure we have all of the evidence in before we jump to conclusions," Brennan could appreciate that it was plausible that Mike Corrigan was indeed their shooter and perhaps even the murderer responsible for the deaths of at least six people, but until they had direct evidence to tie him to the crimes they were really only jumping to conclusions.

"Call it an educated guess then, Bones, but he's the best suspect we have given what we know about Walter Fitzpatrick. I know you don't like going with my gut, but my gut is telling me that he's our guy," Booth was tired; he wanted to wrap up this damn case and let his ass heal so he and Bones could spend some quality time alone together without any chance of being interrupted. He winced as he took a step.

"You really need to take some painkillers and lay down," Brennan was stating a fact, but she couldn't keep her concern out of her voice either. She knew that he was stubborn; she could match that stubbornness, but he wasn't doing himself or the investigation any good by trying to maintain his alpha male exterior.

"I'll take them when we wrap up the case," It was true that he could probably use them, but he wasn't willing to be off in a drug-induced la-la land while there was still a killer to nab.

His answer seemed to pacify Brennan at least for the time being and she changed the subject, "Do you think that Colin is telling the truth; that he really had nothing to do with any of this other than buying the cell phone?" She didn't read people well, but what she could tell was that the man was incredibly nervous.

Booth raked his fingers through his hair and exhaled loudly through his nose, "I don't know. He could be involved and just trying to play us, but I think that more likely he's an unwitting pawn in the whole thing." He narrowed his gaze thoughtfully, "What I really want to know right now is how involved Walter Fitzpatrick is in all of this. He's a former agent; he knows how an interrogation is run. He certainly had motive to dispose of Elizabeth Thompson and he's probably smart enough to have someone else do the dirty work so that it can't be traced back to him."

"Colin said that Mike Corrigan is Walter's brother-in-law," Brennan could see the puzzle pieces slowly shifting closer together suggesting a possible solution, "They could have conspired to cover up Elizabeth Thompson's murder, and whoever actually committed the murder was probably responsible for the deaths of those four boys."

"But Walter Fitzpatrick didn't kill Lila Montgomery or Agent Garcia, Bones, and I'm pretty certain that Colin didn't either. Mike Corrigan is tied into this somehow from the very beginning because someone knew we were going to go talk to Lila Montgomery before we ever left Walter Fitzpatrick's house," Booth's gut was telling him that they needed to locate Mike Corrigan as quickly as possible otherwise there was going to be more blood spilled before it was all over.

"I hope you're right, Booth, I hope you're right," Brennan couldn't hide the worry in her eyes; the reality that someone had shot Booth, but had been aiming at her made her realize just how much this man meant to her and she really hadn't had the chance to tell him that just yet.


	36. Chapter 36

Special Agent Seeley Booth was not in a good mood when he walked as purposefully as he could with his cane into the interrogation room where former FBI agent Walter Fitzpatrick sat with his hands folded together and an expression on his face that looked as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Booth glowered at the man; one thing he hated more than bad guys were good guys gone bad; something he wasn't entirely sure was true of Walter Fitzpatrick, but the evidence was clearly not on the man's side. As Fitzpatrick glanced up, Booth barked out his words, glad that Bones was sitting on the other side of the two-way mirror with Cullen, "You had better start talking Walter because if I find out that you've been lying to me, that you've been withholding information that could have kept two people alive, including one of my agents, you are going to wish that you were never born."

"Why do you have my grandson in custody? He's just a boy, Colin hasn't done anything illegal," Former Agent Fitzpatrick wasn't intimidated easily.

"I'm going to be asking the questions here. You're going to be answering them. Got it?" Booth wasn't going to play nice; his gut told him that Walter Fitzpatrick knew a whole hell of a lot more about this case than he'd let on and his fuse right now was very short. Booth leaned over the table and got in the older man's face, "Tell me everything you know about Mike Corrigan." He'd learned a few things about Corrigan from the preliminary background check that had been run on him. He'd served in Vietnam, had Special Forces training, and was an expert marksman. He'd also been given a medical discharge of an unspecified nature; but Booth could read between the lines, he knew what sorts of things combat could do to your mind and he was sure that the man that they were looking for was not only responsible for all of the killings, but that he was most likely mentally unstable and therefore highly unpredictable.

"He's my brother-in-law," Fitzpatrick revealed nothing with his expression, but his eyes flickered for an instant with something that looked a hell of a lot like fear.

That little bit of hesitation in not just spilling out everything he knew ticked Booth off and his tone was far too controlled as he clenched his jaw, "You are going to be charged with multiple counts of capital murder, conspiracy to commit murder, an accessory after the fact or a combination thereof if you don't start talking right now. It's you or him; do you really want to go down for something that you and I both know that your brother-in-law is responsible for? Federal agents don't do well in prison."

All of the air seemed to get sucked out of Walter Fitzpatrick and he leaned back in his chair looking completely spent. He glanced up at Booth who had a glare on his face that could melt steel, "When I was seeing Elizabeth, he was dating Lila Montgomery. Like I said before, if Elizabeth ever told anyone about us, it would have been Lila…I just never thought she'd say anything to Mike, especially since I was married to his sister," Fitzpatrick's voice faltered.

"You were cheating on his sister; don't you think that's enough of a motive to make Elizabeth Thompson disappear?" Booth was doing his best to keep his tone even and controlled, but it was evident to him why Walter Fitzpatrick never made Special Agent.

"He just didn't seem like the type and since I didn't think anyone knew about the affair, I never considered that he had anything to do with it. Mike had some problems when he came back from Nam, but he was doing better, making a life for himself," Clearly Walter Fitzpatrick was trying to absorb the implications of it all in spite of his denial.

"He was Special Forces, Walter, a trained sniper; he was trained to kill," Booth enunciated every word clearly as he looked at the retired agent with disgust. It was evident that Mike Corrigan was their prime suspect, but there was still the issue about the cell phone to deal with and then looming over them was how in the hell information was leaked out of the FBI to Corrigan in the first place. A team was combing over Walter Fitzpatrick's house right now to find any shred of evidence that might directly tie him to any of this.

A tear slid down Fitzpatrick's face and he looked at Booth with a determined expression, "If I had known that Mike was responsible for Elizabeth disappearing, for killing those four boys, I would have killed the bastard myself." He might not have seen what his brother-in-law was truly made of, but his years at the FBI had honed his sense of justice and he felt at least partially responsible for everything that had happened.

Booth wasn't feeling especially compassionate, "And if you had, you'd be sitting in prison right now."

"Agent Booth, if I could have prevented it, I would have…" Guilt was assailing Fitzpatrick as he considered if there had been an opportunity to have done something differently.

"Maybe if you could have kept it in your pants four little boys could have had the opportunity to grow up," Booth spat the words out; he had never cheated on a woman and despised the kind of men who did and showed no true remorse; the fact that one person had been missing for thirty-four years and six others had lost their lives as a direct result of this man's indiscretion was earning Walter Fitzpatrick a place on the loser's wall of shame as far as Booth was concerned. He had to restrain himself not to poke the man in the chest with the end of his cane.

"That's out of line, Agent Booth," Fitzpatrick straightened himself up in his chair and tried to sound stern, "I think I want my lawyer." His hands were visibly shaking; not so much from the Parkinson's as much as the stress of the situation.

"Is it really out of line? Mike Corrigan didn't have a motive to make Elizabeth Thompson disappear until you cheated on his sister. Think about that Mr. Fitzpatrick," With that, Booth turned on his heels and walked out of the interrogation room fuming. While Fitzpatrick probably had no culpability in the crime he wished that he could charge him with capital stupidity.

Brennan left the observation area as soon as Booth had walked out of the interrogation room; she reached out and touched his arm gently, "Booth, you did very well in there." It never ceased to amaze her how good he was with people, even people that wanted to hide things. Somehow, Booth usually found a way to extract information that she never would have expected to find.

Booth let out a frustrated sigh and winced as he rested on his cane, "Then why doesn't it make me feel any better, Bones?" He was frustrated because he wanted to flick the man between the eyes for all of the lives that had been devastated because he couldn't exercise an ounce of good judgment and stay faithful to his wife.

Brennan looked at him intently, "Because seven people are dead; well six that we know for sure, and probably seven since Elizabeth Thompson's body has never been found." She shared Booth's drive for justice; she wanted truth and the two seemed to go hand in hand.

Cullen stepped out of the observation room and addressed Booth, "We've got a surveillance team on Corrigan's house; as soon as he blinks they'll take him into custody."

"Good," Booth casually slung his arm across Bones' shoulders and let himself lean into her just a little bit, "I think I need to take a load off until they bring in Mike Corrigan, my ass is killing me."

"Dr. Brennan, would you escort Agent Booth to his office and do your best to make him stay there until you hear from me?" Cullen was trying to suppress a smirk; he hoped that he had made the right decision regarding keeping this pair together.

"Yes, I will," Brennan turned her attention to Booth and began propelling him towards his office, "I told you that you should be taking your pain meds for that," her brow was furrowed, "Where's your doughnut?" As tough as Booth was, this was not one of those times to be exhibiting his alpha male tendencies.

"I left it in my office," There was the smallest hint of a whine in his voice.

"It would heal faster if you would take your medication," Brennan was a scientist and she was sharing factual data, not just some anecdotal hearsay; why he couldn't seem to grasp that was a mystery to her. As they approached his office still bickering over the fact that Booth wasn't taking the medication that had been prescribed for him, whispers and a few outright laughs preceded them.

Booth stopped and glared around the bullpen of agents raising his cane for emphasis, "Not another word about me and my partner, ok? You can make as many butt jokes as you want, but if I hear that any of you are talking about me and Dr. Brennan, I hope you'll enjoy being posted to Alaska." There was dead quiet and then a smile flickered across Booth's face, "Good, I'm glad that's clear."

As the door to his office closed behind them, Brennan crossed her arms over her chest, "That wasn't really necessary, Booth. I don't need you to defend me," This was just another example of his alpha male tendencies oozing out and it confused her that she was both flattered and offended by what he had just done.

Booth eased himself into his chair onto his inflatable doughnut, "I have no doubt that you can defend yourself, Bones," He smiled at her as she came over and sat on the corner of his desk facing him and allowed him to lace his fingers with hers, "They're just jealous that I'm with you."


	37. Chapter 37

Given what Booth and Cullen had disseminated about the man, an entire tactical team had staked out a perimeter around Mike Corrigan's home. Corrigan should have seen it coming a mile a way given his Special Forces training, but he slid out of his Ford F-350 and sauntered up to his front door like he didn't have a clue. For a brief moment as the reality that an FBI net had closed in around him he looked like he was going to panic and run; however, the sound of multiple rifles locking and loading as they trained their sights on him was enough to cause him to drop to his knees and place his hands on the back of his head before going face down on the sidewalk just as the tactical team leader had requested.

It all seemed a little too easy. Something that Booth couldn't seem to make friends with as he paced gingerly back and forth in the observation area outside of the interrogation room that Mike Corrigan now sat in. From outside appearances, Corrigan looked like the all American father of the year. And from the more detailed background they'd pulled up while they were trying to take him into custody, it appeared that he was an outstanding citizen too. Since his discharge from the military he'd coached soccer and football, worked with the Boy Scouts and even managed to squeeze in a little time helping Habitat for Humanity on a regular basis. Yeah, this guy was a real piece of work and Seeley Booth was trying to figure out his approach before he walked into the interrogation room and got him to confess to murdering seven people, because he was sure that Elizabeth Thompson was dead and that he was responsible for it.

"Booth, you seem agitated," Brennan had been watching him ever since they'd gotten the call from Cullen that Corrigan was in custody. She knew that a lot was at stake in this interrogation, but usually Booth seemed a bit more in control than he was right now.

"I'm not agitated…I'm just trying to feel this guy out before I go in there. Nothing about him makes any sense," Booth wanted this guy to be guilty, but he needed to pace himself, see if he could get a confession and find out what had happened to Elizabeth Thompson.

"But you're good with people, Booth; you'll get it out of him," Brennan had faith in science and she had faith in Booth; and neither was a blind faith, but they were based upon evidence and experience over time that both could be trusted.

Booth almost wanted to laugh at how naïve her belief in his ability to get what he wanted out of a suspect sounded just then, but he couldn't. Even if he didn't quite believe in himself just then, she believed in him and somehow that simple faith she had in him gave him just the measure of courage he needed to go in and face a man who in his mind was the face of evil. He offered Bones a smile and stepped towards the doorway, "Thanks, Bones."

"For what?" Brennan looked a little confused; she hadn't done anything that she thought he needed to be thanking her for.

Booth glanced back at her, "For just being you," He shut the door behind him and strode purposefully with his cane to the door leading into the interrogation room.

Brennan felt the corners of her mouth twitch upwards into a smile; she was still trying to get used to this feeling she had when Booth did things that couldn't be categorized as 'friend' or 'partner'; they were decidedly more affectionate in nature and she was doing her best to receive them; she'd missed out on so much of life by disengaging herself from the people in it that despite the discomfort of it all, she wanted to embrace what was happening between her and Booth.

Mike Corrigan glanced up at Booth walked in; he noted the cane and the disdain on the man's face and frowned himself.

"Mike Corrigan," Booth flipped through a file as he considered just how he wanted to proceed here, "Special Forces, tour in Vietnam, trained sniper, medical discharge," Booth glanced up and stared the man down, "Did I miss anything there?"

Corrigan could tell that this Agent Booth was pissed and that for some reason he was the target of it all, "That pretty much sums up my service record. The discharge was because they discovered I had an undiagnosed heart condition when I had surgery for a shoulder injury I got in Nam."

"Tell me about your brother-in-law Walter Fitzpatrick," Booth wanted to see if just the mention of the man's name might give him a clue as to where this was going if he didn't already.

"Walter?" Corrigan looked a little confused, "He's a good guy. Used to work for you guys; retired when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease a few years ago." Somehow this was all related to Walter and he couldn't understand why. Had Walter done something to betray his country? That just made no sense to him at all.

Booth gritted his teeth a little; this guy was trying to play him and he didn't like it one bit, "Do you know who Elizabeth Thompson is?" If this guy was going to beat around the bush, then he was going to get straight to the point; he wanted to get this case laid to rest so that the victims could finally get some justice.

Corrigan furrowed his brow for a moment and then a smile stole over his face, "Yeah, I knew her. She was Walter's carpool partner and she set me up on a blind date with one of her friends years ago. Lila Montgomery was her name," Corrigan seemed to be taking a walk down memory lane and then his expression clouded over, "We dated for a little over a year; I thought maybe I might marry her, but she broke things off pretty abruptly after Elizabeth disappeared; never heard from her after that, and then I met my wife Ella so it didn't really matter."

"Lila Montgomery is dead," Booth let those words fall like a ton of bricks to see if it would shake this bastard out of his sentimental reverie.

Corrigan looked shocked, "Oh, God." Clearly the FBI wasn't informing him of her death as a community service; the fact that just a moment ago this agent had brought up Walter's name made him wonder if there was a connection, "How did she die?"

"Cut the act, Mike, Lila Montgomery was murdered, the same way that Elizabeth Thompson was probably murdered, and the same way four little boys who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time were murdered. And the same way one of my agents was murdered. You, my friend, are looking at seven counts of capital murder," To emphasize his point, Booth leaned over the table and glowered at the man.

All of the color seemed to drain out of Mike Corrigan's face as Booth's words sunk in and his hand reached up to clutch at his chest just before his eyes fluttered shut and he slumped forward in his chair.

Booth's eyes widened as he realized that the man was having a heart attack, "Medic! I need paramedics in here now!" Despite the fact that he was convinced that the man had killed seven people and would probably sentenced to death once he was convicted, Booth wanted to make sure he stood trial and he immediately began administering CPR.


	38. Chapter 38

"This guy should either get an Academy Award or he didn't do it," Booth was angry; he was so sure that Mike Corrigan was the killer that the possibility that he might not be hadn't entered his mind. Until now that is. He sank down carefully into one of those hard plastic hospital waiting room chairs and immediately regretted leaving his inflatable doughnut in his office.

Brennan was flipping through Corrigan's medical records which they'd gotten a warrant for after the man had been admitted to the cardiac intensive care unit at George Washington University Hospital, where apparently he'd been treated for heart issues before. Corrigan's claim that he had a heart condition was clearly true; what Brennan wanted to verify now was what sort of injury his shoulder had been treated for thirty some odd years ago. As she reviewed the file, something became clear to her, "Booth, he couldn't have done it."

Booth looked up at her, "How do you know?" He didn't doubt that she had found some quirky medical mystery that would exonerate him; she'd done it often enough over the course of working together and he always found it incredibly annoying, but he wanted to know what she'd found and get a little explanation in non-squinty terms so that it was perfectly clear.

"He's right handed. The damage to his right shoulder would have diminished his strength and his mobility such that he couldn't have killed the boys in the manner that they died," Brennan could see no way that Mike Corrigan could have committed the murders; despite him being a prime suspect on paper because of his background, it didn't make him a good suspect at all when you factored in everything else.

"You're sure?" Booth let out a frustrated sigh, the man had acted completely innocent, but he wanted him to be guilty. He tried to mentally take a step back as he considered that they were out of options.

"Yes, I'm certain. Mike Corrigan isn't the killer," Not that Brennan knew who the killer _was_; that was something that apparently they needed to go back to the evidence to find out.

"Shit," Booth raked his fingers through his hair and felt a wave of guilt wash over him that he had caused an innocent man to have a heart attack. That was almost worse than shooting someone. According to Corrigan's cardiologist he was stable and would probably recover; that really did nothing to assail Booth's feelings of guilt.

"Why are you disappointed? I thought the point of this was to catch whoever the killer is," It was perfectly logical and rational and while Brennan could understand that Booth had hoped that Mike Corrigan was guilty, it didn't change the fact that he apparently wasn't.

"He had motive. He had opportunity. He had the means. In a murder investigation that's usually the equivalent of finding the Holy Grail," Booth's mind was spinning. They were missing something somewhere and perhaps the devil was all wrapped up in the details.

"I don't know what that means," Brennan's brow was furrowed; she knew it was a reference to something religious and apparently was important.

"Never mind," Booth just didn't have it in him to explain it to her right this instant. He pulled himself out of the chair and gestured down the hallway in the direction of the elevators, "We need to go back and look at what we don't know…apparently what we _do_ know isn't getting us anywhere."

Brennan reached out and touched Booth's arm, "I'm sorry that you're disappointed," She wasn't sure if it was the right thing to say, but she did feel badly for him that he'd put all of his hope on this one man to be guilty.

"You have nothing to be sorry about, Bones; we're a team and we catch bad guys. Sometimes the bad guy just isn't as easy to find that's all," He slung his arm across her shoulder as they walked towards the elevator. He was glad that she was his partner; he'd been resistant to it at first, but the friendship they'd cultivated while they'd put criminals behind bars had turned into something that he hadn't quite anticipate. He wasn't sure he was ready to articulate how he was really feeling about her; the fact that they had stumbled into this romantic relationship because they'd fallen asleep on her couch reviewing files was something akin to a miracle as far as he was concerned. If it had been up to him, he probably would still be living somewhere in denial. So in some small way, he was thankful for this twisted case because it had brought him and Bones together.

They walked to her car in relative silence, each of them lost in thought about the case and probably at least a little about each other. It wasn't until Brennan was settled behind the wheel fastening her seatbelt that something occurred to her. She glanced over at Booth who almost didn't know what to do with his hands since he wasn't driving, "Did the FBI forensics lab ever analyze the voice distortion from the mystery caller?"

"I don't know, I mean we traced the phone to Colin Fitzpatrick, I got shot, we thought it was Mike Corrigan, did I mention that I was shot in the middle of all of this?" Booth seemed annoyed, not at Bones per se, but at the fact that he still didn't know who had shot him in the butt on what had promised to be one of the best nights of his life in recent memory.

"I know you got shot, Booth; that's one of the reasons that I'm driving. That and the fact that you never let me drive," Brennan was only slightly amused at the hint of a whine in Booth's voice. She was a good driver and he knew that. She placed a quick call to Angela to ask her to try and do something with the voice distortion from the cell phone caller since she was sure it would be faster than waiting on the FBI forensics lab to get back to Booth. Thankfully, Booth had sent the file to the Jeffersonian right after he'd sent it off to Cullen as back up.

"I let you drive," Booth retorted knowing that it was a rare occasion when he actually did let her drive.

"When? And California doesn't count because I had to blackmail you to get to drive that convertible," It wasn't logical to her that if it was ok for her to drive them around in her car right now why it wasn't ok for her to do that other times when they were working a case.

"You're driving right now," Booth had a smug smile on his face; this was a fact that she could not dispute.

"Only because you got shot," Brennan scoffed at him; true she couldn't drive the FBI SUV because she wasn't employed by them, but her car was far more environmentally friendly and got far better gas mileage anyway. They were still bickering when they walked into the Medico Legal Lab at the Jeffersonian heading towards Brennan's office.

Angela followed behind them with a smirk on her face, "If I can interrupt you two lovebirds for a minute, I think you might want to hear what I got off of that recording you asked me to analyze."

"If it's Mike Corrigan, I'm not going to feel guilty about him having a heart attack," Booth blurted out under his breath; he still thought that this would be a hell of a lot easier if they could pin it on one of the suspects they already had in custody; or in the hospital in the case of Corrigan.

"You gave the man a heart attack?" Angela looked horrified, "What did you do to him?" Clearly she was not up on the latest FBI interrogation methods.

"He didn't do anything; he asked him some questions and presented some of the facts. Apparently, Mr. Corrigan has a weak heart because he found the information quite shocking," Brennan immediately defended Booth; she knew it truly wasn't his fault, he was simply interviewing the best suspect they had and Corrigan's physiology had taken over.

"Look, can we just get to the voice on the recording?" Despite the fact that he'd brought it up, Booth wanted to shift the attention off of him and all of the guilt he was feeling as quickly as possible.

"Fine," Angela rolled her eyes slightly as she gestured for them to follow her to her office.

"Are you feeling guilty over that?" Brennan looked genuinely concerned, "It wasn't your fault, Booth. It was a simple reaction of stress on a compromised organ; you couldn't have known that he would be affected that way."

"Bones, can we just drop it?" Both of Booth's eyebrows were raised in irritation. How he could argue with her like this one minute and want to kiss her the next was something akin to the excitement little boys got at setting off fireworks.

"Fine, but you brought it up," Brennan crossed her arms over her chest and tried to turn her attention to Angela.

"And I'm sorry now that I brought it up," Booth glanced over at Angela and gestured with his eyes to get to it already.

"I can tell you for certain that the voice isn't Mike Corrigan," Angela cued up the voice.

"How can you be so sure? You haven't even heard the guy talk." Booth snorted out.

Angela glanced back at Booth and Brennan as she started the recording, "Because the voice on this tape is female."


	39. Chapter 39

"Female? You're sure," Booth looked at Angela skeptically; as much as he trusted her ability to do her job well, he was having a hard time wrapping his mind around this interesting little twist that had complicated absolutely everything about this case. They had no viable female suspects; at least he wasn't aware of any. The only possible female involved so far had ended up dead before anyone could question her to see what she knew about Elizabeth Thompson's relationship with Walter Fitzpatrick. Unless Elizabeth Thompson herself was still alive by some miracle; the amount of blood found inside of her house shortly after her disappearance suggested that someone had died and it had always been assumed that she had been murdered. Now he wasn't one hundred percent certain about that either; of course her background didn't exactly lend itself to the crimes that had been committed and it would take some pretty hard evidence to convince him that she wasn't actually dead. However, that still didn't give them a suspect, especially a female suspect now that all of their male suspects seemed to either be physically incapable of committing the act or had the airtight alibi that they were in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Investigation when at least one of the crimes was committed.

"Does this sound like a man?" To emphasize her point, Angela played the recording. It was obvious that unless the person speaking had yet to undergo puberty that the caller was in fact a woman, probably a young woman.

"Definitely not," Booth's brow was furrowed in concentration as he tried to put a mental finger on something. There had to be a connection somehow; all of the small details in this case that they hadn't been able to account for so far had to have a center point holding them together somewhere. Now he and Bones just had to figure out where that point was.

"Let's try inductive reasoning," Brennan thought if perhaps they could define what they could know for certain about the case that they might then be able to identify someone, either a type of someone or a specific individual that could logically be a suspect based upon the evidence.

"What?" Booth wasn't really in the mood for squinty-talk; he needed honest to goodness, good old fashioned American English that the average person could actually understand.

"Inductive. We determine what we already know for certain and see if it tells us anything," Brennan shot Booth a look that wasn't exactly brimming with patience. She was just as tired as he was and although she hadn't been the one to get shot, she certainly would have whined hell of a lot less about it than Booth had so far.

"Ok, then let's start with the fact that the voice of our mystery caller is a woman," Booth held up a single finger and then looked at Bones indicating that it was her turn in this pointless venture. His tone sounded slightly sarcastic.

Brennan ignored Booth's tone and interjected her very own red hot poker, "There's a leak at the FBI." Her expression was smug; not that she was thrilled that there was a leak; she was simply pointing out a fact.

"Which could be any one of thousands of people, Bones," Booth's voice definitely had a hint of whining now. This was not a fun game; it wasn't even a fun investigative technique and he was beginning to think that it was also rather useless.

"We know that Colin Fitzpatrick bought the disposable cell phone," Angela chimed in with something helpful before she was tempted to make some smart ass comment about how the two of them needed to figure out how to get a little satisfaction or the rest of them were all going to be trying to swim clear of the land of sexual tension until Booth's ass healed.

Booth's eyes widened as a very significant puzzle piece slipped into place, "If I wasn't in love with Bones I might just kiss you right now," The words didn't quite register in his mind what it was that he was confessing to; he was focused on the fact that Angela had just pointed out what was quite possibly that center point that all of the extraneous evidence was tied to.

"You're what?" Brennan's eyes widened as she tried to wrap her mind around what she thought she just heard Booth say. Her feelings had been running along a parallel course since they'd decided to see each other, but she lacked the courage to voice them until she could find some logical explanation for why she'd never quite felt this way about anyone else before.

"I'm not really gonna kiss Angela," Booth looked a bit sheepish and he let out a little chuckle as he backtracked; in the back of his mind his words began to register that maybe he'd said something out loud that he hadn't quite meant to. His eyes took on a 'deer in the headlights' look and he swallowed hard as he realized that both Bones and Angela were staring at him.

"Good, because Jack would have a problem with that, and I'm pretty sure Bren would too," Angela smirked; she had heard Booth's words crystal clear and inside she was jumping up and down with glee that she was front and center and didn't have to be a fly on the wall for this.

"No, not that part; the other part," The scientist in Temperance Brennan needed to be sure that she heard him correctly to verify the data. The woman in her knew exactly what he'd said and she needed to hear it again to know that he was serious.

"The other part?" Booth's throat was dry; this was not exactly the way that he'd pictured telling Bones that he was in love with her. Of course he hadn't really known he was going to tell her until after the words had already left his mouth. He didn't regret it per se; just that his timing seemed to be off by quite a bit. It would have been nice if a little wine and candlelight had been a part of it after they'd wrapped up the case.

"You know that part where you said you might just kiss me if you weren't already in love with Bren? I'm pretty sure she meant that part," Angela had a smile on her face that was threatening to turn into a laugh. If these two could see just how ridiculous they were it would be priceless.

"Yeah, that part," Brennan felt emboldened by Angela speaking the words that she'd thought she'd heard Booth say. She knew that Booth cared for her very deeply and he'd even told her that, but to have him confess that he was in love with her brought things to a much deeper level and it surprised her that it didn't make her want to run.

Booth swallowed hard again and then a smile flickered across his face as he realized that he wasn't sorry that she knew it. Hell he wasn't even sorry that Angela had been here to hear it. He purposely didn't touch her, but his eyes caressed her face, "Temperance, I'm in love with you." He fully expected her to bolt and when she didn't he took a step towards her intent on kissing her.

Their lips lingered for the briefest of moments and then Brennan took a step back; her head was spinning and she needed time to process what all of this might mean; certainly when she'd jumped into this romantic relationship with Booth she knew that it wasn't going to be a casual one, but she hadn't counted on love; hadn't counted on feeling it herself and not being ready to say it, or even know how to say it. She said the first thing that came to her mind, "Colin Fitzpatrick knows who the woman on that recording is; he bought the cell phone."


	40. Chapter 40

As much as he could tell that his inadvertent confession had throw Bones for a loop and that they probably should go talk about it in private, Booth immediately pulled out his cell phone and called Cullen. Angela reminding them that Colin Fitzpatrick had indeed purchased the disposable cell phone for someone and that someone just happened to be the female voice that they had just listened to certainly made Booth question the young man's innocence. "Sir, we have a development. The mystery caller is female."

Brennan just kept looking at Booth; he was in love with her. She had serious doubts about the authenticity of love; there was nothing rational about it, but if she applied the same objective observation about Booth that she'd forced herself to make about her father, she would have to conclude that she wasn't at all surprised that Booth loved her; he'd been showing it to her in so many little ways for so long that this just felt like another step in the path they'd taken together. The thing that she found surprising was that her feelings mirrored his; falling into it so naturally that she hadn't realized that they'd arrived at the destination called love.

As Booth continued to talk to his boss, he turned around and noticed Bones staring at him, her expression much less freaked out than it had been when the words had unintentionally tumbled out of his mouth, "Well then he must know who it is; in fact I'm not so sure that Walter Fitzpatrick and Mike Corrigan aren't involved on some level too."

Angela's grin seemed permanently etched on her face as she continued working quietly; she reasoned that if the voice was female that doing a scenario of how the victims were killed with the Angelator might just provide the extra details they needed to identify who the killer was. Just because the caller was female did not mean that the killer was and as she listened to Booth talk to Cullen she realized that web of potential conspiracy associated with this case was going to give Jack's imagination an injection of excitement as soon as he caught wind of it. That thought made her smile.

Booth ended the call and looked right at Bones, "Cullen is pulling Colin Fitzpatrick back into interrogation, he had a full background check done on him and it seems that he isn't just an average college student. Apparently, he's a computer science major and is technologically savvy enough to have equipped that phone with a device to alter the caller's voice." Not that they could prove that he'd actually done it, but it certainly seemed rather likely since he was the one who purchased the phone. If they could prove that he was capable of implementing that kind of technology, then they could prove that he had far more involvement in whatever this whole deception really was than they'd first thought. The only thing that didn't make sense was the motive.

"Then we should go," Brennan hoped that her voice sounded normal; she wasn't sure she was ready to talk to Booth about what he'd told her, but she knew she was going to have to have that talk with him eventually.

Booth fell into step with Bones as she headed back to her office. His hand came to rest at the small of her back as he and his cane worked to keep up with her. She seemed to be almost disconnected and he wondered if his slip up was going to have the opposite effect on their relationship than he'd hoped for. He felt compelled to say something to try and smooth things over until they had some time alone away from work to really talk, "Hey, Bones, I didn't mean for that to come out the way it did."

Brennan tried not to look at him as she gathered her things, but even out of the corner of her eye she could tell that he looked a little lost and she knew that it was because of the way she was responding to him. Normally, she would push someone away that dared to get too close. She'd done it to Sully and while she claimed that she had no regret in doing so, she did regret missing out on letting someone care about her. Booth wasn't Sully and truly she was glad for that; if she was honest with herself, she hadn't sailed off into the sunset with Sully _because_ of the man that had just declared his love for her and she knew that she would be a fool if she pushed him away too. She let out a sigh and looked at Booth, "I'm scared, Booth...I'm not good at relationships and I'm just not sure what this means."

"We don't have to talk about this now," Booth knew that when it came to science and evidence that she could process things faster than most people, but when it came to her emotions it took her a lot longer. He'd seen that in the way she'd been working on her relationship with her father and while it would have been nice if she had immediately confessed that she was in love with him too, he really hadn't expected it.

"But we should talk about it later; shouldn't we?" Brennan might not be good relating to people, but she had learned a lot about relating to Booth and she knew that his feelings weren't just going to go away; at least right away. She still had that nagging doubt that people that said they loved her didn't stick around, but she was also coming to the realization that if you didn't take that risk, if you didn't try then you were missing out on the possibility of the most beautiful thing that life offered; being loved by another human being.

"Yeah," Booth searched her eyes for any sign that this was all too much for her, "We should." He quickly leaned in and kissed her; he didn't want her to doubt that what he'd said was true and somehow he needed some reassurance from the way she returned his kiss that this was all going to work out. The case and the fact that they needed to get over to the FBI to sit in on an interrogation faded to the back of his mind as Booth concentrated on the way her arms slipped around his waist and the way that she kissed him back hungrily. It went on like that for a good few minutes, neither one of them really wanting to let go of the other, but finally having to pull apart because they still had a killer to find.

As they walked towards her car, Brennan was struck with a thought, "Colin had to have been pulled into this by someone; Walter Fitzpatrick had a motive for keeping all of this covered up." There was no solid evidence to directly link him other than his relationship with Elizabeth Thompson.

"So would Mike Corrigan; I don't care if he had a shoulder injury or not...they could have been in on it together, they _both_ had motive. With Fitzpatrick's connections at the FBI, he could have found someone to keep an eye out for information and that pisses me off." Seeley Booth did not like the idea of someone within his FBI being dirty; especially when it was a case like this one.

"They could have done it together," Brennan considered the old injury to Mike Corrigan's shoulder; she was certain that he lacked the strength to kill someone on his own, but if he had help then it might be possible, "But that still doesn't explain who killed Lila Montgomery _or_ Agent Garcia." Clearly Mike Corrigan couldn't have done it and as for Walter Fitzpatrick and his son Colin, they both had alibis. They had to have had help and just as she was about to say something to that effect, Booth beat her to it.

"But there had to be someone else involved too for them to pull this off; if we can find out who that is, that's the key. I just hope that Colin Fitzpatrick feels like telling us _everything_ he knows this time," Booth wasn't going to buy anything less than the whole truth; he knew that this young man was involved and he wasn't going to let up until he got the answers he wanted. Colin Fitzpatrick was about to experience a full court press interrogation courtesy of Special Agent Seeley Booth; and a rather pissed off Special Agent at that.


	41. Chapter 41

Booth left the cane outside of the interrogation room; he wanted to be reminded just why this particular case had become a literal pain in his ass if Colin Fitzpatrick didn't give him exactly what he wanted. He grimaced as he pulled out a chair across the table from where the young man sat and set it down with a thud just to make a point before he eased himself into it, "You're looking at a minimum of conspiracy to commit murder and accessory after the fact; the fact that you lied to a federal agent isn't really going in your favor either."

Colin simply glared at Booth; he was a far cry from the scared façade of a boy he'd presented the last time they'd found themselves in this situation. There was something in his eyes that clearly knew that this time he wasn't going to be able to convince Booth of his innocence, "I didn't lie." He even sounded defiant despite what he was facing.

"Oh, no, you just failed to tell the whole truth," Booth glowered at him; if Colin thought he'd seen what an FBI interrogation was like before, he was in for a rude awakening. "Let's start with the cell phone, and this time, I don't want to hear the sad little story about Uncle Mike. Who did you really buy it for?" He was regretting his decision to leave the cane outside the interrogation room and so he steadied himself on the table in front of him hoping that he hadn't winced in the process as he stood up and leaned forward trying to intimidate the suspect.

"So I bought a phone or two; I'm a nice guy," Colin smirked; he most certainly had no desire to make things easy on this FBI agent, especially since his Uncle Mike was still in the hospital because of him. Besides, he was pretty sure that if all they had on him was buying a phone they were just fishing; at least he hoped that was true. He was confident that he'd be walking right back out that door in a few short minutes.

The fact that the kid hadn't thought to get a lawyer at this point told Booth that he still had the upper hand because Colin was either cocky as hell or really stupid, or maybe both, but either way he wasn't going to win this fight, "Guy like you doesn't strike me as being charitable; who did you buy the phones for?" The fact that he'd admitted to buying more than one phone concerned Booth, but he certainly didn't show it.

"I told you that I bought a phone for Uncle Mike. He's an old guy with a bad heart and living off a pension," Colin looked a little scared despite the fact that he obviously knew more than he was telling Booth.

Booth narrowed his eyes, "I'm pretty sure I told you I didn't want to hear your sad story about Uncle Mike; who else did you buy a phone for?" When Colin didn't immediately speak, Booth placed both hands flat on the table and leaned forward; he was tempted to grab the kid by the collar and lift him out of his chair, "This is your one chance to tell me everything you know; you don't cooperate and tell me you get no deal. Think about that while I'm still in a good mood." Booth was only going to wait so long before he started playing hard ball.

"I didn't do anything illegal," Colin's voice had the smallest hint of a waver; he was putting on a good front, but his bravado was beginning to crumble.

"Cut the crap, I know that you supplied a disposable cell phone to someone who's threatened a federal agent repeatedly. I know that you outfitted that same phone with voice manipulation software so that it would be nearly impossible to identify the caller. I know that you know who killed seven people and I know that by yourself, you don't have a motive which tells me that you got roped into this by someone else; your grandfather Walter or your Uncle Mike, or both. And I also know that you know who else is involved in this whole thing." Booth lowered his voice and spoke deliberately, "Think really hard before you open your mouth because when I walk out of this room you get nothing except maybe twenty-five to life."

If Colin hadn't grasped the seriousness of the situation before, he was starting to now. His eyes widened and fear was clearly visible there, "You said yourself that it was impossible to identify the caller. Why do you think I had anything to do with it? My grandpa and Uncle Mike are just a couple of old guys, like I told you before. We didn't do anything wrong."

"See that's where you're wrong, Colin," Booth smirked, "I said _nearly_ impossible which is quite a bit different than impossible. Which means we have a voice; a crystal clear voice making crystal clear threats against a federal agent. And since we know that you purchased that phone and purposely installed the voice distortion software; that makes you culpable."

The color began to drain out of Colin's face as he realized that this guy knew far more than he'd anticipated and for the first time since the interrogation had started, his posture seemed to visually deflate.

"I'm not playing games here; the only person you're hurting by keeping quiet is yourself because I already know more than you've told me," Booth was ready to just walk out the door and let him squirm for a while. Colin Fitzpatrick was inconsequential anyway. Booth already knew that the boy hadn't killed anyone; he hadn't even been conceived when Elizabeth Thompson disappeared and those four boys had been killed presumably to cover it up and he'd been in custody when Lila Montgomery and Agent Garcia had been murdered. However, that wasn't going to make Booth back down; he wanted to put the bad guys behind bars and Colin Fitzpatrick was as good a start as any.

There was definitely a thread of fear that was audible in Colin's voice as he began to speak, "They said it was a matter of national security...they said if I told anyone that they would deny that they knew anything about it...that they would claim that I was lying."

Booth could see terror in the kid's eyes, "Who told you that?" He sounded much calmer than he felt on the inside; much the way he had when he found a target in his crosshairs when he'd been a sniper.

"All of them...they just needed help with the phones...I never actually hurt anyone," Colin choked out a sob and he looked at Booth with a pleading expression, "You gotta believe me."

"Who told you? Tell me their names, Colin," Clearly he was going to need some help focusing on the task at hand and now that Booth knew he was close to getting exactly what he wanted out of the boy he was treating him like a prized fish on the end of a line; he was going to reel him in nice and slow.

"They're never going to forgive me, Agent Booth; if I tell you my life is over," Colin was clearly struggling with coming clean in order to get a deal.

"Twenty-five to life for each count of murder, Colin; what kind of life is that? Who is worth doing that kind of time for?" Booth narrowed his eyes again, "Remember if I walk out of this room, you get no deal." He let that sink in for a good long minute as he waited for Colin to say something.

Colin opened his mouth only to close it again. He did this a few times before dissolving into agonizing sobs.

Booth watched him for a few minutes looking for some sign that he was actually going to supply him with a name and when he didn't think he was going to get it, he moved towards the door to leave Colin alone in his angst.

Colin called out just as Booth turned the knob on the door, "Agent Booth, wait; I'll tell you, I'll tell you who they are."

Booth had to temper his victorious smile as he turned around to hear Colin's confession; his bluff had worked exactly as he'd planned.


	42. Chapter 42

Booth was still shaking his head in disbelief as he and Bones worked on the paperwork for this very messy case; it very well could have been the plot in one of her best-selling novels rather than a real life tale of some very disturbed people. But then again, truth really was stranger than fiction. He let out a wry chuckle, "You know the prosecution is going to need a diagram to be able to explain this to a jury."

Brennan glanced up and smiled sadly from where she sat next to him on the couch in her office, "At least Andy and Ryan Cooper, Brian Foster, and Randy Harrison are finally getting justice." She'd felt some measure of relief that Colin Fitzpatrick had given them enough information to break the case wide open, betraying his own family and their horrific secret in the process. It never ceased to amaze her that the infidelity of one man could spawn such horror for so many other people.

"And Kathy Gibbons," Booth stopped writing for a moment and furrowed his brow, "No one even reported her missing." As the mystery had unraveled, they'd learned that Mike Corrigan had indeed learned that Walter was cheating on his sister and in some warped attempt to defend her honor he had shown up at Elizabeth Thompson's house drunk and looking for some revenge and maybe hoping to catch them in the act. Unfortunately, it had been Elizabeth's roommate Kathy that had answered the door and she had encountered the full force of Mike's rage. And in Mike's drunkenness, he'd left the murder weapon behind; a hunting knife that had been a Christmas gift from his sister and engraved with a sentiment.

"The deception is the part I really don't understand. Why not just report the crime? Mike Corrigan is the one who killed Kathy Gibbons," Brennan was glad she hated psychology; it was times like this she didn't want to understand what would motivate someone to kill.

"Maybe they saw an opportunity. If Mike thought he'd killed Elizabeth, then Walter and Elizabeth figured that they had an out to make it look like she was really dead; she said she'd figured out who was leaking information to the Washington Post and she was afraid of being found out; something like that could have easily gotten you killed back in 1973, especially since the Deputy Director was Deep Throat," As twisted as it was, it was the truth and Booth chided himself that he had definitely underestimated Walter Fitzpatrick's mental acuity; he'd pegged his integrity, or his lack thereof, but he hadn't realized that the man hadn't pursued advancement, instead preferring to fly under the radar so he could keep tabs on this particular case.

"But why did they have to kill those boys?" There was no justification for killing a child as far as Brennan was concerned and if she had been inclined to believe in God and heaven and hell, she'd hope that anyone who killed a child rotted in hell. As Walter and the mysterious Elizabeth had come clean they'd explained that after dumping Kathy Gibbon's body in Overlook Park that they'd returned to the house only to find the four boys inside trying to retrieve a baseball that one of them had accidentally hit through a window. They'd found the baseball, but they'd also found the pool of blood and just happened to get caught as Walter and Elizabeth returned to clean up the mess. It had all happened in an instant.

"Bones, we start asking why we're and we're going to get some pretty twisted answers. I mean this alone is enough to make your head spin. Throw in the sordid details about how Walter kept seeing her and then convinced her to let him and his wife adopt their love child and raise it as his own and how they roped two generations into the lie and I think you have your next book," Booth scoffed out a laugh bitterly.

"Even my publisher wouldn't buy this; it's too outlandish," Brennan glanced over and studied Booth for a moment, wondering if they would have ever crossed that proverbial line if it hadn't been for this case, or if it would have been another case that finally pushed them together.

"Maybe so, but David Fitzpatrick gladly followed his parents into the lie," Booth raked his fingers through his hair and leaned back into the couch to take a break from this paperwork and to steal a glance at his beautiful partner. Through David they'd found their leak at the FBI; his wife Michelle had never changed her last name and she just so happened to work in records management at FBI headquarters. They were so committed to covering up the lies that they had spent their entire lives rationalizing it. So much so that when it all started to unravel, David Fitzpatrick, who had served as an Army Ranger before retiring from active duty to join the Secret Service as a sniper took it to a whole new level. It had been David and Michelle that had been responsible for the cell calls and the subsequent shots fired, and it had been David that had killed Lila Montgomery and Agent Garcia. It seemed that the only one of them that hadn't been tangled up in the dirty details of it all was Colin Fitzpatrick; David and Michelle's son.

"Do you think that Colin will get any leniency?" Brennan felt sorry for the young man to some degree; it was clear that he had a brilliant mind, but he'd become involved in a secret from birth that he had no control over.

"I don't know; that's not really up to us. I have a feeling that the AG is going to want to prosecute all of them to the fullest extent of the law. Seven people died; and not a single one of them deserved it," Booth was tired, they'd been working on paperwork for quite a while and he realized that he was still hungry and reached for one of the take out containers that sat on the table in front of them, "Feel like some more Wong Foo's?"

Brennan pursed her lips together in thought as she accepted the container from him, "I think it's a pretty warped kind of love to motivate someone to do what Walter Fitzpatrick and Elizabeth Thompson did; why didn't Walter just leave his wife? Anthropologically speaking if he was incapable of monogamy..."

Booth cut her off, "C'mon, Bones, don't even try and explain this one with anthropology; even anthropology would have to say that they were pretty messed up." He looked at her for a long moment, "You know real love isn't warped."

Brennan looked over at him; she knew that he was talking about his feelings for her. He'd confessed his love for her and they still hadn't really talked about it and she hadn't figured out how to explain to him exactly how she was feeling, "I think that love is confusing...there's nothing rational about it."

"You can't explain everything in life rationally, Bones," Booth felt his heart in his throat; he didn't want to press her too hard and yet he wanted her to know that allowing yourself to follow where your heart led you was worth the risk.

Brennan smiled softly at him, "I know that...I'm learning that there are certain things that you can't measure with science that can be measure other ways. For instance, even though rationally it makes no sense for me to love my father I do and if I step back and objectively observe how he treats me, I know he loves me too."

"I'm glad you and your dad are working things out," Booth really was glad that Bones had finally come to a place that she could welcome him into her life; when she had first learned who Max Keenan was, she'd wanted nothing to do with him.

"I have you to thank for that," Brennan's smile widened, "I've observed you too, Booth...I think that even before you told me, that if I'd really thought about it I would have known that you loved me."

Booth felt the corners of his mouth twitch up into a smile; she wasn't fighting it and he couldn't be happier, "Even though it's not rational?"

She let out a soft chuckle and turned her body towards him, reaching up to touch the side of his face with her fingertips, "I think that the most irrational thing is that I believe I love you too," With that she leaned in, letting him pull her into his arms, savoring the sweet kiss that he pressed against her lips.

Booth rested his forehead against hers as he pulled away, "I thought you didn't believe in love." Not that he was going to complain; she'd just admitted that she loved him too.

Brennan wasn't sure where this sudden rush of happiness was coming from, but whether she categorized it as euphoria from some sort of endorphin rush or irrationally called it falling in love, she knew that ultimately Booth was the cause of it and she couldn't get enough of it, "I didn't, but that's before I realized what it really was."

Booth's head was swimming as he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers again delighting in the fact that she returned his kiss eagerly. There was still a ton of paperwork to finish before they could call it a night and they'd both have to testify in court against all of their suspects in the coming months, but in spite of the ugliness of this horrific series of crimes that they'd finally wrapped up, Booth couldn't have been happier; they'd put the bad guys behind bars and he got the girl.

_**The End**_

**Author's Note:** I have to say that I'm sad to see this story come to an end as all stories must. I thoroughly enjoyed writing it and I truly appreciate each of you taking the time to read it. For those who took the time to review, I appreciate it more than you know. Thanks for taking this journey with me.


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